\! 


*     JUN  23  1902 


A 


%*«SiTtt*^ 


Section.iM^fc 


A    SHORT 

INTRODUCTION 


TO 


THE  LITERATURE  OF  THE  BIBLE 


BY 


RICHARD  G.  MOULTON,  M.A.  (Camb.),  Ph.D.  (Penna.) 

Professor  of  Literature  {in  English)  in  the  University  of  Chicago;  Late 

Lecturer  in  Literature  to  Cambridge  University  {Extension) , 

and  to  the  London  and  the  American  Societies  for  the 

Extension  of  University  Teaching 

Author  of  "The  Literary  Study  of  the  Bible"  etc.;  Editor  of 

"  The  Modern  Reader's  Bible  " 


BOSTON,   U.S.A. 

D.   C.   HEATH    &    CO.,   PUBLISHERS 

1901 


Copyright,  1901, 
By   RICHARD   G.    MOULTON. 

Entered  at  Stationers'  Hall. 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America. 


PREFACE 

I  wish  to  explain  that  this  volume  is  not  an  abridge- 
ment of  my  other  work  on  The  Literary  Study  of  the 
Bible.  There  is  necessarily  much  in  common  between 
two  treatments  of  the  same  topic  :  but  the  purposes  of 
the  two  are  distinct.  The  larger  work  is  intended  for 
formal  students ;  it  is  an  illustration  of  literary  mor- 
phology in  the  field  of  sacred  Scripture.  The  present 
book  is  addressed  to  the  general  reader,  whether  more 
or  less  cultured ;  it  avoids  technicalities,  and  treats  the 
matter  of  the  Bible,  approaching  this  from  the  literary 
side.  In  what  sense  I  understand  the  word  '  literary  '  — 
as  distinguished  from  theological  and  critical  —  I  have 
sufficiently  explained  in  the  opening  section. 

Many  things  have  convinced  me  that  we  are  entering 
upon  a  new  era  of  popular  interest  in  the  sacred  Scrip- 
tures. My  duties  as  a  lecturer  have  brought  me  in  con-, 
tact  with  many  different  types  of  audiences  in  different 
parts  of  England  and  America.  No  single  thing  has 
impressed  me  more  than  the  commonness  of  the  remark 
—  coming  usually  from  persons  who  were  neither  unedu- 
cated nor  irreligious  —  that  the  Bible  (except  for  a  few 
passages)  had  long  been  a  sealed  book  to  them,  but  that 
they  were  taking  to  it  again.  We  have  done  almost 
everything  that  is  possible  with  these  Hebrew  and  Greek 
writings.  We  have  overlaid  them,  clause  by  clause,  with 
exhaustive  commentaries  ;  we  have  translated  them,  re- 
vised the  translations,  and  quarrelled  over  the  revisions ; 


iv  PREFACE 

we  have  discussed  authenticity  and  inspiration,  and  sug- 
gested textual  history  with  coloured  type ;  we  have 
mechanically  divided  the  whole  into  chapters  and  verses, 
and  sought  texts  to  memorise  and  quote  ;  we  have  epito- 
mised into  handbooks  and  extracted  school  lessons ;  we 
have  recast  from  the  feminine  point  of  view,  and  even 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  next  century.  There  is  yet 
one  thing  left  to  do  with  the  Bible  :  simply  to  read  it. 
To  give  an  impetus  to  this  last  is  the  main  purpose  of 
the  present  book. 

It  may,  however,  be  desired  by  some  to  use  a  work 
of  this  kind  as  an  assistance  in  their  studies.  What  help 
I  have  offered  in  this  way  has  been  reserved  for  an 
appendix.  It  is  a  sound  principle  that  the  sustained 
attention  necessary  for  literary  reading  and  appreciation 
should  be  kept  distinct  from  the  attitude  of  examination 
and  reference  which  is  implied  in  every  kind  of  study. 
Possibly  those  who  merely  turn  over  the  pages  of  this 
appendix  may  think  the  reading  lists  over-elaborate  and 
detailed.  I  would  point  out  that  this  is  so  only  in 
appearance  ;  and  the  reason  is  that  the  numbering  of 
chapters  and  verses  in  ordinary  Bibles  in  no  way  agrees 
with  the  actual  structure  ;  which  necessitates  a  re-index- 
ing of  the  divisions  proper  for  literary  study.  One  who 
uses  an  edition  in  which  the  proper  structure  is  pre- 
sented to  the  eye  will  hardly  need  the  help  of  reading 
lists.  In  a  second  appendix  I  have  endeavoured  to 
meet  the  requests  I  am  accustomed  to  receive  for  advice 
as  to  progressive  study  in  biblical  literature. 

RICHARD  G.  MOULTON. 
Chicago,  December,  1900. 


CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTION 

PAGE 

The  Literary   Study  of  the  Bible  as  Distinct 

from  Theology  and  Criticism  i 

PART    FIRST 

BIBLICAL   HISTORY  AXD   STORY 

CHAPTER    I 
History  and  Story 15 

CHAPTER   II 

The  History  of  the  People  of   Israel  as   Pre- 
sented by  Themselves 23 

CHAPTER   III 

The  History  of  the  New  Testament  Church  as 

Presented  by  Itself 89 

PART   SECOND 

BIBLICAL   POETRY  AXD   PROSE 

CHAPTER    IV 
Poetry  and  Prose  in  the  Bible     .         .         .        .121 


vi  O  INTENTS 

CHAPTER   V 

PAGE 

Old  Testament  Wisdom 130 

CHAPTER   VI 
New  Testament  Wisdom 187 

CHAPTER   VII 
Lyric  Poetry  of  the  Bible 219 

CHAPTER   VIII 
Prophecy  as  a  Branch  of  Literature  .        .        .     258 

CHAPTER   IX 
Old  Testament  Prophecy 285 

CHAPTER  X 
New  Testament  Prophecy 312 

APPENDICES 

I.     Bible  Reading  arranged  to  accompany  the 

Present  Volume 331 

II.     Progressive  Study  in  Biblical  Literature  .     351 

Index  of  Passages  of  Scripture    ....     359 
General  Index  369 


Introduction 


THE    LITERARY    STUDY   OF    THE    BIBLE    AS 

DISTINCT    FROM    THEOLOGY    AND 

CRITICISM 


INTRODUCTION 

THE   LITERARY   STUDY   OF  THE   BIBLE  AS   DISTINCT 
FROM  THEOLOGY  AND   CRITICISM 

It  is  a  purpose  of  this  book  to  distinguish  what  will  be 
here  called  the  Literary  Study  of  the  Bible  from  other 
studies  ;  more  particularly  from  theology,  and  from  that 
historical  treatment  which  chiefly  at  the  present  time  is 
associated  with  biblical  criticism.  It  may  be  convenient 
to  approach  this  distinction  from  the  side  of  illustration. 
I  will  take  the  fourth  and  fifth  chapters  of  Judges,  de- 
scribing the  oppression  of  Israel  under  Jabin  king  of 
Canaan  and  their  deliverance  by  Deborah  and  Barak,  as 
a  portion  of  Scripture  in  which  the  three  treatments  may 
well  be  compared. 

The  first  type  of  study  accepts  the  canonical  books  of 
Scripture  as  a  foundation  for  theology  and  a  manual  of 
devotion.  To  a  student  of  this  order  it  is  a  shock  to 
find  within  the  sacred  volume  an  incident  involving  cold- 
blooded assassination  with  treacherous  violation  of  hos- 
pitality, not  brought  forward  to  be  denounced,  or  even 
palliated,  but  displayed  with  evident  exultation.  Such  a 
circumstance  is  calculated  to  raise  the  reflection  :  Is  the 
Bible  to  be  understood  as  a  theological  system,  in  which 
every  section  is  a  fragment  of  complete  truth  ?  or  does 
the  Bible  comprise  a  theological  evolution,  bringing  to 
view  immature  stragglings  after  right,  as  well  as  its 
complete  revelation  ?     This  is  not  the  place  to  discuss 

i 


2  INTRODUCTION 

such  a  question  :  that  it  is  raised  by  a  particular  portion 
of  Scripture  is  sufficient  illustration  of  the  first  study. 

For  a  second  department  of  Bible  study  matters  of 
history  are  the  chief  concern.  Who  are  the  authors  of 
the  books  of  Scripture  ?  What  periods  produced  them  ? 
Have  we  the  original  form  in  which  the  books  appeared, 
or  have  they  been  compiled  out  of  earlier  materials? 
What  evidence  do  the  different  parts  of  the  Bible  thus 
carry  as  to  the  life  of  the  far  past?  A  student  interested 
in  questions  like  these  will  seize  upon  the  differences 
between  the  fourth  and  fifth  chapters  of  Judges,  both 
treating  the  same  incident :  differences  so  great  that  the 
writer  of  the  fifth  chapter  can  hardly  be  supposed  to 
have  had  the  fourth  chapter  before  him.  The  discus- 
sion will  naturally  arise  as  to  whether  The  Book  of  Judges 
was  the  original  composition  of  a  single  author,  or  whether 
it  may  not  be  made  up  of  traditional  poems,  like  the 
Song  of  Deborah  in  the  fifth  chapter,  and  later  history, 
like  that  of  the  fourth,  with  or  without  an  editor  to  bring 
the  parts  together. 

The  third  type  I  am  calling  literary  study.  No  doubt 
the  word  '  literary  '  is  used  in  many  different  senses : 
what  I  have  in  mind  is  the  study  of  the  various  forms 
of  which  a  literature  is  made  up.  When  we  speak  of 
1  Greek  literature '  or  '  English  literature '  every  one 
thinks  of  certain  dramas,  epics,  philosophical  works, 
histories,  poems,  stories,  and  the  like,  produced  by  the 
Greek  or  English  peoples.  If  then  the  Bible  is  to  be 
called  'literature,'  we  ought  to  expect  to  find  in  it 
dramas,  stories,  philosophical  works,  histories,  songs,  and 
similar  forms  of  literature.  Where  these  are  the  chief 
interest  of  a  student  he  will  delight  to  distinguish,  in  the 


INTRODUCTION  3 

fourth  chapter  of  Judges  plain  history,  in  the  fifth  an 
outpouring  of  brilliant  lyric  poetry.  Not  only  is  this 
lyric  poetry,  but  it  can  be  referred  to  the  particular 
species  of  lyric  known  as  '  ballad  '  —  a  technical  term 
implying  that  musical  accompaniment  and  dance  move- 
ments are  still  in  use.  To  such  a  literary  student  the 
mode  of  performance  will  not  seem  unimportant,  and  in 
the  opening  words,  "Then  sang  Deborah  and  Barak,"  he 
will  recognise  interchange  between  a  Chorus  of  Women 
led  by  Deborah  and  a  Chorus  of  Men  led  by  Barak. 
Fresh  interest  is  added  to  every  detail  of  the  song  when 
its  antiphonal  structure  has  thus  been  caught.  The  men 
are  chanting  dolefully  — 

In  the  days  of  Shamgar  the  son  of  Anath, 

In  the  days  of  Jael, 
The  highways  were  unoccupied, 

And  the  travellers  walked  through  byways; 
The  rulers  ceased  in  Israel, 

They  ceased  — 

The  Chorus  of  Women  break  in  — 

Until  that  I,  Deborah,  arose, 

That  I  arose  a  mother  in  Israel. 

The  Chorus  of  Men  call  on  all  ranks  of  men  to  rejoice  :  — 

Tell  of  it,  ye  that  ride  on  white  asses, 
Ye  that  sit  on  rich  carpets, 

And  ye  that  walk  by  the  way  :  — 

the  Chorus  of  Women  appeal  similarly  to  all  women  :  — 

Far  from  the  noise  of  archers, 

In  the  places  of  drawing  water  :  — 
There  shall  they  rehearse  the  righteous  acts  of  the  Lord, 

Even  the  righteous  acts  of  his  rule  in  Israel. 


4  INTRODUCTION 

The  two  Choruses  break  off  to  encourage  one  another  :  — 

Men.    Awake,  awake,  Deborah, 

Awake,  awake,  utter  a  song :  — 
Women.    Arise,  Barak, 

And  lead  thy  captivity  captive,  thou  son  of  Abinoam. 

The  mustering  of  the  tribes  no  longer  reads  as  a  mere 
catalogue,  but  is  alive  with  snatches  of  spirited  rivalry. 

Women.  Out    of   Ephraim    came    down    they   whose    root    is    in 
Amalek  — 

Men.  After  thee,  Benjamin,  among  thy  peoples  — 

Women.  Out  of  Machir  came  down  governors  — 

Men.  And  out  of  Zebulun  they  that  handle  the  marshal's  staff  — 

Women.  And  the  princes  of  Issachar  were  with  Deborah  — 

Men.  As  was  Issachar,  so  was  Barak  : 

All.  Into  the  valley  they  rushed  forth  at  his  feet. 

It  appears  how  one  of  the  tribes  changed  its  mind.  The 
men  are  singing  heroically,  — 

By  the  watercourses  of  Reuben 
There  were  great  RESOLVES  of  heart ! 

The  women  break  in,  with  sarcastic  interruption  :  — 

Why  satest  thou  among  the  sheepfolds, 
To  hear  the  pipings  for  the  flocks? 

The  men  change  their  description  by  a  single  word  :  — 

At  the  watercourses  of  Reuben 
There  were  great  searching*  of  heart ! 

As  the  song  proceeds  we  have  the  Chorus  of  Men  telling 
how  kings  came  to  fight,  the  Chorus  of  Women  answering 
that  the  stars  in  their  courses  fought  against  them  :  the 
men's  song  gives  to  the  ear  the  prancing  of  the  horses  in 
the  flooded  plain,  the  women  burst  out  with  the  disap- 
pointment of  spectators  when  one  of  the  allies  fails  to 


INTRODUCTION  5 

play  its  part.     It  is  men  and  warriors  who  dilate  upon 
the  more  than  military  hard-heartedness  of  Jael. 

Blessed  above  women  shall  Jael  be,  the  wife  of  Heber  the 
Kenite, 

Blessed  shall  she  be  above  women  in  the  tent ! 
He  asked  water,  and  she  gave  him  milk; 

She  brought  him  butter  in  a  lordly  dish. 
She  put  her  hand  to  the  nail,  • 

And  her  right  hand  to  the  workmen's  hammer; 
And  with  the  hammer  she  smote  Sisera, 

She  smote  through  his  head, 

Yea,  she  pierced  and  struck  through  his  temples. 
At  her  feet  he  bowed,  he  fell,  he  lay : 

At  her  feet  he  bowed,  he  fell : 

■Where  he  bowed,  there  he  fell  down  dead. 

To  the  Chorus  of  Women  is  left  the  essentially  feminine 

touch   of  fancying    the    mother   of  Sisera   awaiting   his 

return. 

Through  the  window  she  looked  forth,  and  cried, 

The  mother  of  Sisera,  through  the  lattice, 
"Why  is  his  chariot  so  long  in  coming? 

Why  tarry  the  wheels  of  his  chariots?  " 
Her  wise  ladies  answered  her, 

Yea,  she  returned  answer  to  herself, 
"  Have  they  not  found, 
Have  they  not  divided  the  spoil? 

A  damsel,  two  damsels  to  every  man; 
To  Sisera  a  spoil  of  divers  colours, 
A  spoil  of  divers  colours  of  embroidery, 

Of  divers  colours  of  embroidery  on  both  sides,  on  the 
necks  of  the  spoil?  " 

Both  Choruses  unite  in  a  final  outburst  of  glory  to  God. 

So  let  all  thine  enemies  perish,  O  Lord  : 

But  let  them  that  love  him  be  as  the  sun  when  he  goeth 
forth  in  his  might ! 


6*  INTRODUCTION 

The  literary  study  of  the  Bible  thus  seeks  the  new  light 
which  will  come  into  any  passage  of  Scripture  when  it  is 
read  in  accordance  with  its  exact  literary  form.  So 
described,  however,  the  study  is  apt  to  leave  on  some 
minds  the  impression  that  it  is  something  superficial  or 
technical,  remote  in  its  interest  from  those  who  are  seek- 
ing the  matter  and  spirit  of  Holy  Scripture.  It  therefore 
becomes  necessary  to  lay  down  this  fundamental  princi- 
ple :  That  a  clear  grasp  of  the  outer  literary  form  is  an 
essential  condition  for  understanding  the  matter  and 
spirit  of  literature.  There  need  be  nothing  to  cause  sur- 
prise in  such  a  statement.  In  comparison  with  the  pro- 
found questions  of  theology,  or  the  far-reaching  view  of 
the  historian,  how  superficial  and  trifling  appear  the  nice- 
ties of  grammar  and  syntax  !  Yet  every  one  understands 
that  to  read  Scripture  with  faulty  ideas  of  its  grammar 
and  syntax  would  be  to  run  the  risk  of  fundamental 
errors  in  theological  or  historical  inferences.  A  similar 
risk  is  run  by  those  who  are  seeking  to  draw  theology  or 
history  out  of  a  scripture  of  which  they  have  ignored  the 
literary  structure. 

To  take  simple  illustrations.  A  reader  is  using  a  chap- 
ter of  the  Bible  as  a  devotional  exercise,  striving  to  bring 
home  to  his  heart  what  he  reads  as  a  Divine  message. 
He  has  omitted  to  note  that  the  portion  of  Job  from 
which  he  has  selected  his  chapter  opened  with  the  words, 
"  Then  answered  Bildad  the  Shuhite  ;  "  and,  in  the  final 
chapter  of  the  book,  God  is  represented  as  declaring  that 
this  Bildad  and  the  other  friends  of  Job  "have  not 
spoken  of  him  the  thing  that  is  right."  Thus  this  devo- 
tional exercise  is  seeking  to  realise  as  God's  message  the 
words  of  a  speaker  whom  God  himself  expressly  repudi- 


INTRODUCTION  7 

ates.  The  mistake  has  arisen  simply  from  overlooking 
the  dramatic  form  of  the  book ;  in  other  literature  the 
details  represent  the  author's  sentiments,  in  drama  they 
represent  the  sentiments  which  the  author  has  put  into 
the  mouth  of  another,  possibly  of  one  who  is  the  oppo- 
site of  himself.  The  author  of  Job  is  no  more  responsi- 
ble for  the  sentiments  of  Bildad  than  Shakespeare  is  to 
be  credited  with  the  horrible  thoughts  of  Iago. 

Or  again,  suppose  The  Book  of  the  Prophet  Micah  is 
being  read,  and  at  a  particular  point  (vii.  7)  the  reader 
is  conscious  of  a  total  transformation  in  the  spirit  of  the 
passage,  from  deep  depression  to  confidence  and  exulta- 
tion. If  the  interpreter  falls  into  the  prevalent  habit  of 
looking  only  to  history  for  explanation  of  such  changes, 
he  will  probably  cry  out  that  the  new  passage  is  an  *  in- 
terpolation '  from  some  later  age,  different  in  its  sur- 
roundings from  the  gloomier  times  of  Micah  ;  he  will 
follow  Wellhausen  in  saying  that  between  verses  6  and  7 
"  there  yawns  a  century."  To  one  who  does  not  ignore 
literary  structure  it  will  be  evident  that  what  yawns 
between  the  verses  is  nothing  more  than  a  change  in 
dramatic  speakers.  The  prophecy  has  been  introduced 
(vi.  9)  by  a  title-verse  :  "The  voice  of  the  Lord  crieth 
unto  the  city,  and  the  man  of  wisdom  will  see  thy 
name."  In  other  words,  we  are  led  to  expect  a  dra- 
matic scene,  in  which  one  of  the  speakers  will  be  the 
'  Man  of  Wisdom.'  Immediately  following  the  title  we 
have  (verses  10-16)  the  denunciation  and  woe  with 
which  God  cries  to  the  city  ;  next  we  have  the  despair 
(vii.  1-6)  of  the  doomed  city;  at  the  critical  verse 
the  '  Man  of  Wisdom '  speaks  —  the  righteous  man  on 
whose  behalf  God  is  interposing  :  — 


8  I  INTRODUCTION 

Tut  as  for  me,  I  will  look  unto  the  Lord;  I  will  wait  for 
the  God  of  my  salvation.  .  .  .  Rejoice  not  against  me,  O  mine 
enemy :  when  I  fall,  I  shall  arise. 

The  dramatic  scene  continues,  with  natural  connection 
of  thought,  to  the  end  of  the  prophecy.  Thus  errors  of 
history  may  be  made,  as  well  as  mistakes  in  devotional 
exercises,  through  inattention  to  the  literary  structure  of 
what  is  read. 

It  might  perhaps  be  objected  that  the  distinction 
between  dramatic  and  other  literature  is  so  broad  a 
difference  of  form  that  mistakes  like  those  cited  would 
not  often  be  made.  But  the  smallest  points  of  literary 
structure  may  serve  as  a  key  to  interpretation.  The 
ordinary  reader  would  probably  think  it  a  finely  drawn 
and  purely  technical  question  to  dispute  whether  a  par- 
ticular passage  should  be  printed  in  'asyndetic  sentences' 
or  in  'the  envelope  figure.'  Yet  the  determination  of 
this  point  will  make  a  great  difference  even  in  a  familiar 
passage  of  'The  Lord's  Prayer.'  The  first  part  of  this 
prayer  is  usually  arranged  in  entirely  independent  sen- 
tences :  — 

Our  Father  which  art  in  heaven,  Hallowed  be  thy  name. 
Thy  kingdom  come.  Thy  will  be  done  in  earth  as  it  is  in 
heaven. 

The  same  words  may  be  arranged  in  an  '  envelope  fig- 
ure,' in  which  the  first  and  last  lines  are  closely  related, 
while  what  comes  between  is  read  in  the  light  of  both. 

Our  Father  which  art  in  heaven : 

Hallowed  be  thy  Name, 

Thy  Kingdom  come, 

Thy  Will  be  done, 
In  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven. 


INTRODUCTION  9 

According  to  the  first  arrangement  the  words,  "  in  earth 
as  it  is  in  heaven,"  are  connected  only  with  the  petition, 
"Thy  will  be  done."  According  to  the  envelope  arrange- 
ment the  words  must  be  associated  with  all  three  peti- 
tions;  the  sense  now  becomes  this:  Hallowed  be  thy 
Name  in  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven,  Thy  Kingdom  come  in 
earth  as  it  is  in  heaven,  Thy  Will  be  done  in  earth  as  it  is 
in  heaven.  So  much  of  force  can  be  brought  out  of  so 
slight  a  variation  of  form  even  in  what  is  so  familiar. 

The  fundamental  connection  between  the  outer  struc- 
ture and  the  inner  spirit,  while  it  applies  to  all  literature, 
yet  stands  in  need  of  special  assertion  in  regard  to  the 
Bible,  owing  to  extraordinary  circumstances  connected 
with  the  transmission  of  the  sacred  word.  The  Bible  has 
come  down  to  us  as  the  worst-printed  book  in  the  world. 
Not  only  modern  literature,  but  even  such  as  the  literature 
of  ancient  Greece",  if  given  out  in  modern  times,  will  be 
printed  in  a  manner  which  conveys  the  literary  structure 
directly  to  the  eye.  If  the  work  be  a  drama,  the  speeches 
are  separated  and  the  names  of  speakers  inserted ;  if  it 
be  a  poem,  verse  and  line  divisions  will  be  made  ob- 
vious ;  in  essays  or  histories  there  will  be  at  least  titles 
and  proper  divisions  into  sections.  But,  though  the  Bible 
is  proclaimed  to  be  one  of  the  world's  great  literatures, 
yet  if  we  open  our  ordinary  versions  we  find  that  the 
literary  form  is  that  of  a  scrap  book  :  a  succession  of 
numbered  sentences,  with  divisions  into  longer  or  shorter 
chapters,  under  which  all  trace  of  dramatic,  lyric,  story, 
essay,  is  hopelessly  lost.  Nor  is  it  difficult  to  understand 
how  this  has  come  about.  The  Old  Testament  goes  back 
to  an  antiquity  in  which  the  representation  of  structure 
to  the  eye  had  not  been  invented.     The  original  authors 


10  INTRODUCTION 

were  succeeded  by  rabbinical,  and  later  by  monastic  in- 
terpreters, to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  their  reverent 
care  in  the  preservation  of  the  sacred  word,  but  with 
whom  there  was  no  conception  of  Scripture  as  literature. 
It  was  an  Age  of  Commentary,  and  to  the  rabbinical  and 
mediaeval  commentators  each  separate  clause  of  Scripture 
was  enough  as  a  starting  point  for  discussion.  From 
their  hands,  then,  the  Bible  emerged  in  the  form  of  num- 
bered texts-for-comment ;  and  for  most  readers  that  is 
the  form  which  the  Bible  still  wears.  Recovery  from  a 
tradition  of  twenty  centuries  is  naturally  slow.  When 
King  James's  version  of  the  Bible  was  made,  the  scholars 
of  that  age  did  not  even  know  that  parts  of  the  Bible 
were  in  verse.  The  distinction  between  prose  and  verse 
in  Hebrew  was  rediscovered  a  century  later.  The  l  Re- 
vised Lectionary '  of  the  Anglican  Church,  in  our  own 
day,  took  the  step  of  presenting  lessons  unhampered  by 
chapter  divisions  ;  later  still  the  '  Revised  Version  '  broke 
away  from  numbered  texts,  and  printed  parts  of  Scripture 
in  the  form  of  poetic  verse.  But  it  is  still  left  for  indi- 
vidual effort,  in  such  works  as  The  Modern  Reader's 
Bible,  to  undertake  the  task  of  presenting  Holy  Scripture 
in  the  full'literary  structure  which  for  all  other  literature 
is  a  matter  of  course.  It  will  be  clear,  then,  that  the 
Bible  student,  more  than  any  other,  needs  the  type  of 
study  which  uses  literary  form  as  a  key  to  interpretation. 
Three  modes  of  treatment  then  —  theological,  his- 
torical, literary  —  are  essential,  if  our  study  of  the  Bible 
is  to  be  adequate.  I  go  on  to  the  observation  that,  in 
practice,  the  three  studies  must  be  kept  distinct.  The 
perspective  of  things  in  the  three  is  so  different,  the 
objects  sought  and  the  methods  followed  are  so  unlike, 


INTRODUCTION  11 

that  no  good  can  come  of  the  attempt  to  carry  them  on 
together.  The  endless  bickering  and  disputation,  with 
its  personal  questions  and  heresy  trials,  which  at  the 
present  time  disturbs  the  peace  of  the  biblical  world,  is 
mainly  due  to  the  fact  that  the  two  studies  of  history 
and  of  theology  have  been  allowed  to  become  entangled. 
Questions  such  as  the  authorship  of  Isaiah,  or  the  struc- 
tural origin  of  the  Pentateuch,  are,  it  is  admitted,  issues 
of  historical  fact,  and  by  historical  methods  alone  can 
they  be  properly  investigated.  Yet  in  practice  every 
stage  of  the  investigation  is  scanned  from  varying  theo- 
logical standpoints ;  party  spirit  comes  in,  and  one  his- 
torical investigator  turns  into  a  champion  for  a  creed, 
another  has  a  mission  to  expose  the  hollowness  of  tradi- 
tion. Meanwhile,  history  has  lost  the  '  dry  light '  with- 
out which  scientific  inquiry  is  impossible,  and  theology 
itself  suffers  in  its  single-mindedness.  It  is  equally  im- 
practicable to  mingle  in  the  same  treatment  literary  and 
historic  study :  the  appreciation  of  what  the  Bible  is, 
and  the  analytic  examination  of  possible  ways  by  which 
it  has  become  what  it  is.  Take  for  example  The  Book 
of  Deuteronomy,  and  assume  anyone  of  the  competing 
theories  as  to  its  history :  let  it  be  supposed  that  the 
book  is  entirely  the  composition  of  the  historic  Moses, 
and  that  it  represents  exactly  what  took  place  in  his  day ; 
or  let  it  be  supposed  that  Deuteronomy  is  a  pious  fiction 
of  a  later  age  \  or  again,  that  round  a  nucleus  of  tradition 
imaginative  matter  has  gathered.  How  is  it  possible 
that  any  one  of  these  theories  can  affect  what  is  a  matter 
of  simple  literary  fact,  that  our  Deuteronomy  stands  as 
a  succession  of  orations  and  songs,  presenting  the  Fare- 
well of  Moses  to  the  People  of  Israel  ?     Yet,  in  practice, 


12  INTRODUCTION 

perplexing  details  in  the  Book  of  the  Covenant  — 
an  appendix  to  the  Deuteronomic  orations  —  have 
been  allowed  to  thrust  out  of  view  altogether  the  most 
magnificent  oratory  enshrining  the  most  pathetic  of  all 
dramatic  situations.  Let  the  theologian,  the  historian, 
the  literary  interpreter,  pursue  undisturbed  their  inde- 
pendent paths  of  study.  We  shall  know  in  the  event 
how  to  harmonise  ourselves  with  three  aspects  of  truth. 
But  to  struggle  along  a  course  of  three  incompatible 
methods  will  bring  us  to  no  goal  but  that  of  confusion. 
The  present  work,  then,  is  devoted  to  the  literary  study 
of  the  Bible  in  the  distinct  sense  in  which  I  have  ex- 
plained the  term.  Literary  classics  carry  on  their  surface 
enough  of  history  and  of  theology  for  their  interpretation  ; 
further  questions  of  historic  origin,  or  bearing  upon  sys- 
tematic theology,  belong  to  other  branches  of  study. 
To  read  about  literature  is  easy  :  it  is  much  more  difficult 
to  read  it.  The  ultimate  aim  of  this  book  is  to  assist  in 
reading  the  Bible,  such  reading  being  implied  as  seeks 
the  full  light  that  comes  from  clearly  presented  literary 
structure.  One  remark  may  be  added.  A  man  may  be 
said  to  have  read  a  history  or  a  legal  document  when  he 
understands  it ;  of  literature  his  reading  is  not  complete 
until  he  has  come  to  love  it.  This  book  will  have  failed 
in  its  main  purpose  if  it  does  not  give  assistance  —  to 
those  who  may  need  assistance  —  in  perceiving  that  the 
Bible,  as  it  is  the  most  sacred,  is  also  the  most  interest- 
ing of  literatures. 


Part   First 

BIBLICAL    HISTORY   AND   STORY 


I.    History  and  Story 

II.     The  History  of  the  People  of  Israel  as  Pre- 
sented by  Themselves 
III.     The  History  of  the  New  Testament  Church  as 
Presented  by  Itself 


CHAPTER    I 

HISTORY   AND   STORY 
History  and  Story  as  Literary   Terms 

At  the  threshold  of  our  subject  lies  a  literary  extinc- 
tion of  great  importance  :  the  distinction  between  his- 
tory and  story.  Both  are  narrative  :  history  is  narrative 
addressed  to  our  sense  of  record  and  the  explanation  of 
things,  story  is  narrative  appealing  directly  to  the  imagi- 
nation and  emotions.  There  is  much  misconception  on 
this  subject.  It  is  usually  supposed  that  story  is  imagi- 
nary incident :  in  reality,  it  is  incident  that  is  addressed 
to  the  imagination.  Invented  matter  cannot  be  part  of 
history;  but  the  converse  of  this  is  not  true,  for  matter 
of  fact  can  perfectly  well  be  worked  up  into  the  form  of 
story.  The  question  is  not  as  to  the  nature  of  the  mat- 
ter, but  as  to  the  mode  in  which  it  is  narrated. 

The  distinction  can  be  well  appreciated  by  one  who 
reads  continuously  through  The  Book  of  Genesis.  He 
feels  the  literature  he  is  following  shift  its  character 
backwards  and  forwards.  At  times  he  is  occupied  with 
strings  of  proper  names,  that  carry  him  through  succes- 
sive generations  of  men  or  mutual  connections  of  races ; 
or  in  a  few  lines  are  narrated  revolutions  that  may  cover 
centuries.  He  comes  upon  the  name  of  Joseph,  and  it 
is  as  if  a  curtain  were  suddenly  lifted  :  the  reader  is  in 
the  midst  of  real  life,  warm  with  human  interest  and 
fluctuating  passions. 

'5 


16  BIBLICAL   HISTORY  AND   STORY 

A  strong  personality  is  apparent,  making  itself  felt 
under  the  most  varied  circumstances.  Joseph  is  at  first 
the  clever  child  of  a  large  family,  too  untutored  in  life  to 
veil  his  superiority.  With  boyish  self-consciousness  he 
must  needs  tell  his  dreams  of  his  brethren's  sheaves  bow- 
ing down  before  his  sheaf,  or  of  the  sun  and  moon  and 
eleven  stars  doing  obeisance ;  his  brothers  envy  and 
hate  him,  his  doting  father  rebukes,  but  bears  in  mind 
and  looks  for  further  revelations.  Opportunity  betrays 
Joseph  to  his  brethren  away  from  all  help,  and  they 
prepare  to  slay  him ;  opportunity  is  encountered  by 
opportunity,  and  they  are  able  to  sell  their  brother  to 
travellers,  and  make  gain  out  of  revenge.  A  slave  in 
Egypt,  Joseph  none  the  less  makes  his  personality  felt : 
Potiphar  puts  his  whole  household  under  Joseph's  man- 
agement, and  knows  not  aught  that  is  with  him  save  the 
bread  which  he  eats.  But  the  same  attractiveness  which 
wins  men  wins  women  also ;  Joseph  finds  himself  entan- 
gled in  a  false  charge  and  thrown  into  prison.  Yet  in 
prison,  as  everywhere  else,  Joseph  soon  rules  :  whatever 
is  done  there,  he  is  the  doer  of  it.  And  when  he  is  by 
marvellous  chance  delivered  and  brought  before  Pharaoh, 
Joseph  has  not  concluded  his  first  speech  at  court  before 
emperor  and  courtiers  are  saying,  Can  we  find  such  a 
one  as  this,  in  whom  the  spirit  of  God  is? 

To  character  interest  other  elements  of  story  beauty 
are  added  in  the  narrative  that  centres  around  Joseph. 
Manners  of  the  primitive  home ;  pastoral  life,  with  long- 
continued  wandering  of  herds  and  flocks  from  station 
to  distant  station  ;  mercantile  caravans  crossing  deserts  ; 
Egypt  with  its  military  organisation,  its  luxury  and  in- 
trigue, its  underground  prison  life,  its  noble  river  fringed 


HISTORY    AND    STORY  17 

with  the  reed-grass  out  of  which  monsters  may  be  dreamed 
of  as  issuing  ;  court  life  with  its  pomp  of  gold  chains  and 
fine  vesture,  and  runners  crying,  *  Bow  the  knee ' :  all 
these  varied  types  of  the  picturesque  are  just  sketched 
in  to  make  a  background  for  the  movement  of  events. 
The  realm  of  mystery  encircling  the  real  world  is  touched 
in  dreams,  the  fanciful  forms  of  which  may  be  read  as 
symbols  only  half  veiling  events  which  are  on  their  way. 
Sudden  mutations  of  fortune  are  dear  to  story ;  and 
Joseph  in  a  single  day  steps  from  the  slaves'  prison  to 
the  prime  minister's  throne,  while  it  is  given  to  him  to 
be  dispenser  of  food  to  a  starving  world. 

But  when  in  the  exercise  of  his  office  Joseph  sees 
his  own  brethren  stand  before  him,  recognised  but  not 
recognising,  then  we  get  one  of  those  double  situations 
which  are  so  fertile  a  source  of  beauty  in  story.  And 
the  situation  is  developed  to  the  utmost.  Joseph  is  torn 
opposite  ways,  by  desire  for  righteous  vengeance,  and 
by  reviving  affection  for  kindred  seen  in  the  land  of 
strangers.  Now  Joseph  plays  the  foreigner  with  his 
brethren,  speaking  to  them  through  an  interpreter,  while 
he  can  hear  their  naive  conversation ;  now  he  entangles 
them  in  cross-examination  as  to  their  home  affairs ;  now 
they  find  themselves  overwhelmed  with  hospitality,  mys- 
teriously arranged  at  table  in  the  order  of  their  age  ; 
again  their  innocence  is  caught  in  strange  situations  of 
circumstantial  guilt.  Nor  is  this  merely  play.  A  moral 
effect  is  at  work,  as  the  brethren  are  given  an  opportu- 
nity of  rising  above  themselves  :  from  the  first  they  have 
been  led  to  think  of  their  brother  whose  distress  of  soul 
they  would  not  hear  when  he  besought  them ;  they  are 
as  tender  to  their  father  in  the  temporary  loss  of  Ben- 


18  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND    STORY 

jamin  as  they  were  cruel  in  depriving  him  forever  of  his 
loved  Joseph ;  they  had  once  united  to  slay  or  sell  one 
brother,  now  two  of  their  number  offer,  the  one  his 
liberty,  the  other  his  own  children,  to  secure  Benjamin 
for  their  father's  old  age.  At  last  the  tangle  resolves  as 
Joseph  sobs  out  that  he  is  the  lost  brother ;  and  plot 
rises  into  providence  with  the  reassuring  truth  that  not 
his  brethren  but  God  was  the  disposer  of  events,  who 
permitted  the  slavery  of  one  to  save  a  world  from  famine. 
The  excitement  settles  down  into  happy  idyl  pictures  of 
the  migration  from  Canaan  to  Egypt :  the  old  father 
fainting  at  the  news  of  Joseph's  life,  restored  by  the  sight 
of  real  wagons  sent  to  convey  the  family  goods.  The 
sons  become  chief  herdsmen  for  the  Egyptians.  The 
father  is  presented  at  the  court  of  Pharaoh,  and  the 
majesty  of  the  crown  bows  down  before  the  simpler 
majesty  of  patriarchal  white  hairs. 

The  reader  continues  his  perusal  of  Genesis;  but  the 
curtain  has  dropped.  It  is  now  the  intellectual  faculties 
to  which  appeal  is  made,  with  economic  changes  affecting 
the  land  tenure  of  Egypt,  a  few  verses  raising  reflections 
as  to  consequences  that  would  extend  over  centuries. 
The  difference  thus  felt  between  the  narrative  of  Joseph 
and  what  precedes  and  follows  is  just  the  difference 
between  story  and  history.  In  other  literatures  story  is 
quite  a  separate  branch  of  literature,  with  matter  of  its 
own,  and  the  verse  style  usually  known  as  epic.  In  the 
literature  of  the  Bible  the  stories  are  portions  of  the 
national  history,  attracted  to  the  prose  of  historic  narra- 
tive. The  connection  between  the  two  is  even  closer 
still :  story  is  used  as  a  means  of  historic  emphasis ;  and 
the  elaborate  narrative  of  Joseph  is  justified  by  the  posi- 


SCRIPTURE    NARRATIVE  19 

tion  of  the   man   who   is  the   link  between    Israel  and 
Egypt. 

It  may  be  added  that,  besides  this  distinction  of 
history  and  story,  a  properly  printed  Bible  should  keep 
separate  to  the  reader's  eye  the  history  itself  and  the 
statistical  or  legal  documents  by  which  it  is  supported  : 
just  as  in  modern  literature  a  volume  of  Hallam  or 
Macaulay  will  print  in  separate  type  the  text  and  the 
footnotes  or  appendices.  When  all  proper  distinctions 
have  been  observed,  then  the  reader  is  in  a  position  to 
appreciate  the  narrative  literature  of  Scripture  :  the  con- 
tinuous thread  of  history  maintained  through  half  the 
Bible,  supported  from  time  to  time  for  those  who  desire 
it  by  documentary  supplement,  but  with  the  spirit  of  the 
history  made  impressive  for  all  with  a  wealth  of  epic 
stories. 

Scripture  Narrative  considered  as  History  and  as 
Literature 

The  narrative  portions  of  Scripture  will  hold  a  very 
different  position  in  the  study  of  history  and  in  the  study 
of  literature.  The  first  object  of  the  historian  is  to 
ascertain  the  exact  facts  of  the  past.  To  him  the  his- 
torical books  of  the  Bible  are  materials  upon  which  he 
is  to  work.  He  will  sift  his  materials  :  inquiring  as  to 
authorship,  age,  mode  of  composition ;  discriminating 
different  degrees  of  authority  in  different  parts,  according 
as  they  are  the  work  of  contemporary  or  other  writers. 
With  all  this  he  will  combine  material  drawn  from  other 
sources  :  modern  discovery,  or  documentary  matter  out- 
side the  Bible.  In  the  nature  of  things  his  results  must 
be  ever  under  revision,  as  more  and  more  of  material  is 


20  BIBLICAL   HISTORY    AND    STORY 

given  him  to  combine.  But  to  the  student  of  literature 
the  historical  books  of  the  Bible,  precisely  as  they  stand, 
remain  a  literary  product  of  permanent  significance  ;  for 
they  are  nothing  less  than  the  History  of  the  People  of 
Israel  as  Presented  by  Themselves. 

The  distinction  for  which  I  am  contending  can  be 
illustrated  in  other  fields.  Shakespeare  has  given  us 
plays  which  touch  the  history  of  England.  In  regard  to 
these  plays  just  the  same  questions  arise  as  in  regard 
to  books  of  Scripture.  One  critic  ascribes  the  plays  to 
Shakespeare,  others  to  another  author,  or  to  several 
authors  in  collaboration.  One  critic  accepts  the  plays  as 
history ;  another  thinks  that  Shakespeare,  careless  as  to 
exact  details  of  events,  has  used  history  as  a  form  in 
which  to  embody  general  conceptions  of  life.  It  is  obvi- 
ous that  a  number  of  critics,  holding  irreconcilable  opin- 
ions on  these  points,  might  sit  side  by  side  in  a  theatre, 
and  find  themselves  affected  in  exactly  the  same  way  by 
the  play  as  presented  on  the  stage ;  it  would  never  occur 
to  them  to  interrupt  the  performance  in  order  to  settle 
whether  a  detail  of  the  dramatic  action  was  or  was  not 
in  accordance  with  the  latest  historic  opinion.  There 
would  be  no  need  to  discuss  whether  the  historic  study 
or  the  literary  effect  were  the  more  important ;  it  is 
enough  that  the  two  are  distinct. 

But  perhaps  an  objection  may  be  raised  to  this  anal- 
ogy. In  regard  to  the  historic  books  of  the  Bible  where, 
it  may  be  asked,  is  the  Shakespeare?  The  answer  is 
that  in  this  case  we  have,  not  the  transcendent  genius  of 
an  individual  poet,  but  the  national  consciousness  of  a 
great  people.  For  whatever  may  be  the  truth  as  to  the 
process  by  which  books  of  Scripture  assumed  the  form  in 


SCRIPTURK   NARRATIVE  21 

which  we  have  them,  it  is  not  questioned  that  they  rep- 
resent the  history  as  it  presented  itself  to  the  mind  of  the 
nation  itself.  The  narrative  of  Scripture  is  philosophic 
history,  of  permanent  importance  in  the  world's  literature. 
The  national  consciousness  of  Israel  recognises  the 
race  as  a  chosen  people,  with  a  mission  to  be  the  witness 
of  its  invisible  God  to  the  nations  of  the  earth.  The 
first  portion  of  the  history,  the  biblical  Genesis,  gives  us 
what  that  word  implies  —  the  Gradual  Formation  of  the 
Chosen  Nation.  The  next  section  is  The  Exodus  (the 
biblical  Exodus,  Leviticus,  Numbers},  the  Emigration  of 
the  Chosen  People  to  the  Land  of  Promise  ;  with  migra- 
tion goes  the  gradual  evolution  into  an  organised  nation, 
and  the  massing  at  this  point  of  legal  documents  makes 
the  Constitutional  History  of  Israel.  Under  the  name 
of  The  Judges  (the  biblical  Joshua,  Judges,  part  of  Sam- 
uel) we  next  distinguish  the  Grand  Transition  :  a  people 
starting  with  theocracy,  the  government  of  an  invisible 
God,  comes  to  accept  the  rule  of  visible  kings  copied 
from  the  nations  around.  But  precisely  at  the  time 
these  kings  begin  there  is  established  a  regular  order  of 
'prophets,'  or  interpreters  for  God,  representing  the  old 
idea  of  theocracy :  the  fourth  period  of  the  history  may 
be  named  as  The  Kings  and  The  Prophets,  a  regular 
Government  of  Kings  tempered  by  an  Opposition  of 
Prophets.  Then  comes  The  Exile  :  the  witnessing  of 
Israel  for  Jehovah  has  to  be  carried  on  in  the  land 
of  strangers.  There  return  from  exile,  not  the  whole 
people,  but  only  those  who  are  devoted  to  the  service  of 
God  ;  not  the  Hebrew  Nation,  but  the  Jewish  Church  : 
and  the  final  section  is  thus  the  Ecclesiastical  History  of 
The  Chronicles,     The  spirit  of  the  history  is  throughout 


22  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   STORY 

made  emphatic  by  story,  or  at  times  by  fable  or  song. 
But  in  addition  to  the  formal  historic  books  we  have  to 
note  two  others.  Deuteronomy  gives  us  the  Orations  and 
Songs  of  Moses,  emphasising  the  crisis  of  the  leader's 
Farewell  to  Israel.  And  in  Isaiah  we  find  a  certain 
dramatic  work  which,  in  connection  with  the  deliverance 
from  exile,  reads  a  meaning  into  events  such  as  strikes  a 
unity  through  the  whole  career  of  the  chosen  people  :  it 
is  an  Epilogue  to  the  History  of  Israel. 

What  has  been  said  as  to  the  narrative  of  the  Old 
Testament  may,  with  the  proper  modifications,  be  laid 
down  in  regard  to  certain  parts  of  the  New  Testament. 
Accordingly,  the  two  chapters  that  follow  will  deal  with 
The  History  of  the  People  of  Israel  as  Presented  by 
Themselves,  and  again,  with  The  History  of  the  New 
Testament  Church  as  Presented  by  Itself. 


CHAPTER    II 

THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL   AS 
PRESENTED   BY  THEMSELVES 

Prologue  to  the  Old  Testament 

The  relation  between  the  people  of  Israel  and  their 
God  is  in  the  Bible  expressed  by  the  word  '  covenant '  : 
God  appears  repeatedly  as  referring  to  his  covenant  with 
Abraham,  and  at  successive  stages  in  the  history  of  Israel 
the  covenant  is  renewed.  The  word  '  testament,'  which 
in  later  times  has  changed  its  meaning,  was  in  earlier 
English  exactly  equivalent  to  '  covenant ' :  hence  it  is  nat- 
ural that  the  sacred  literature  of  Israel  should  be  called 
'The  Old  Testament,'  or  covenant  between  God  and  his 
ancient  people  of  Israel. 

It  might  have  been  expected  that  this  literature  should 
commence  with  the  first  of  the  fathers  :  as  a  fact,  Genesis 
commences  long  before.  But  when  the  eleven  chapters 
which  precede  Abraham  are  examined,  the  reason  is  plain. 
The  call  of  Abraham  is  not  the  first  example  of  covenantal 
relations  between  God  and  mankind. 

When  the  origin  of  all  things  has  been  noted  in  the 
creation  of  the  world,  Adam  is  granted  dominion  over 
all  the  earth  ;  the  garden  of  Eden  is  given  him  for  his 
abode,  and  for  a  sign  of  obedience  is  the  command,  to 
abstain  from  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil. 
This  is  the  covenant  between  God  and  the  common 
ancestor  of  men.     Then  is  narrated  the  eating  of  the 

23 


24  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AXD    STORY 

forbidden  fruit ;  and  Adam  is  driven  out  of  Eden.  With 
the  slaying  of  Abel  by  Cain,  the  feud  of  the  righteous  and 
the  wicked  has  appeared  upon  earth.  Its  continuance  is 
suggested  in  the  two  genealogies  that  follow.  The  one 
traces  the  progeny  of  Cain  to  Lamech,  the  inventor  of 
deadly  weapons.  In  the  other,  Abel  is  replaced  by  Seth : 
"  then  began  men  to  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord." 
Descendants  of  Seth  —  including  Enoch,  who  "walked 
with  God,  and  he  was  not,  for  God  took  him  "  —  are 
traced  to  Noah.  At  that  point  corruption  has  reached 
its  completeness ;  and  then,  with  vivid  detail,  is  pictured 
the  flood  which  sweeps  a  world  away,  the  household  of 
Xoah  alone  preserved  in  the  floating  ark. 

With  Noah  we  have  a  fresh  starting  point  for  mankind, 
and  a  fresh  covenant : 

The  bow  shall  be  in  the  cloud :  and  I  will  look  upon  it,  that 
I  may  remember  the  everlasting  covenant  between  God  and 
every  living  creature  of  all  flesh  that  is  upon  the  earth. 

The  foulness  of  Canaan's  father  recommences  the  history 
of  sin,  and  the  Curse  of  Noah  prophesies  the  feud  of 
righteous  and  wicked  nations. 

Cursed  be  Canaan ; 

A  servant  of  servants  shall  he  be  unto  his  brethren. 
Blessed  be  the  Lord,  the  God  of  Shem; 

And  let  Canaan  be  his  servant. 
God  enlarge  Japheth, 
And  let  him  dwell  in  the  tents  of  Shem; 

And  let  Canaan  be  his  servant. 

A  genealogical  table  connects  the  sons  of  Noah  with  the 
nations  of  the  world  that  were  to  be  ;  this  is  followed  by 
the  story  of  the  Tower  of  Babel,  in  which  diversity  of 
speech   enhances   differences  of    nationality.       Another 


THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE  OF   ISRAEL       25 

table    traces    the    individual    descendants    of    Noah    to 
Abraham. 

Enough  has  been  said  to  show  how  the  early  chapters 
of  Genesis  serve  as  prologue  to  the  Old  Testament. 
Twice  has  God  entered  into  covenant  with  all  mankind, 
as  represented  in  a  common  ancestor;  twice  the  cove- 
nant has  been  broken,  and  sin  has  triumphed.  Hence- 
forward a  particular  people  is  to  be  called  forth  from 
among  the  nations,  and  through  this  chosen  people  all 
the  nations  of  the  earth  are  to  be  blessed. 

Genesis :  or,   The  Formation  of  the   Chosen  Nation 

The  first  division  of  the  history  of  Israel  is  occupied 
with  the  origin  of  the  chosen  nation.  Abraham  is  called 
upon  to  give  up  his  country  and  kindred,  and  to  go  out 
into  a  new  land  that  is  promised  to  his  seed.  The  de- 
scendants of  Abraham  are  followed  through  the  stage  in 
which  they  are  a  nomad  people,  wandering  from  station 
to  station  in  the  Canaan  that  is  hereafter  to  be  their  own  ; 
when  they  are  a  succession  of  families,  living  under  simple 
patriarchal  rule  ;  until  at  last  they  have  grown  into  the 
twelve  tribes  which  never  ceased  to  be  the  basis  of  the 
future  nation's  organisation. 

The  main  note  in  the  history  is  the  gradual  narrowing 
of  the  succession  to  the  covenant.  It  was  a  family  mi- 
gration which  had  started  from  Mesopotamia  :  Abraham 
and  his  kinsman  Lot,  with  their  households.  When  the 
land  is  no  longer  able  to  bear  the  increased  flocks  and 
herds,  Lot  makes  his  choice  for  the  fertile  plains  with 
their  cities  of  wickedness,  Abraham  remains  in  the 
country  districts  of  Canaan.     Lot  is  entangled    in    the 


26  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND    STORY 

wars  of  the  cities  and  taken  prisoner ;  Abraham  comes 
to  his  deliverance.  As  the  doom  of  the  vile  cities  is 
approaching  Abraham  is  admitted  into  the  counsels  of 
Deity ;  in  his  intercessory  prayer  for  the  fifty,  the  forty 
and  five,  the  forty,  the  thirty,  the  twenty,  the  ten  right- 
eous men  who  may  be  found  in  Sodom,  we  find  the 
first  example  of  piety  struggling  with  the  mysteries  of 
providential  judgments.  At  last  we  have  the  exciting 
story  of  the  destruction  of  the  guilty  cities  :  vice  seeking 
to  lay  hands  on  the  very  angels  themselves ;  Lot  and  his 
household  torn  away  by  force  before  it  is  too  late ;  Lot's 
wife  looking  back  and  overtaken  by  the  destruction ;  Lot 
himself,  with  the  spectacle  of  desolation  before  him, 
clinging  to  the  chance  of  city  life  at  the  point  where 
destruction  may  stop.1  Thus  one  of  the  original  emi- 
grants is  unfaithful  to  the  career  of  the  chosen  people. 
And,  by  incestuous  wedlock,  Lot  becomes  ancestor  of  the 
Moabites  and  Ammonites,  chief  neighbours  and  foes  of 
the  future  Israel. 

There  is  a  narrowing  of  the  succession  even  among 
the  descendants  of  Abraham.  The  long  childlessness  of 
Sarah  brings  into  prominence  the  children  of  the  bond- 
woman. There  is  a  glimpse  of  household  strife,  persecut- 
ing mistress  and  mocking  maid  ;  we  have  the  affecting 
story  of  Hagar  in  the  wilderness  going  a  bowshot  away 
that  she  may  not  see  her  child  die,  and  coming  upon  the 
well ;  Abraham  is  heard  crying  to  God  that  Ishmael 
might  live  before  him.  But  the  children  of  the  bond- 
woman are  not  to  inherit  with  the  children  of  the  free. 
Ishmael  stops  short  at  the  nomad  type  of  life,  ancestor 
of  Bedouin  Arabs ;  his  lot  is  compared  to  the  wild  ass,'2 

1  Genesis  xix.  20.  2  Genesis  xvi.  12. 


THE   HISTORY   OF  THE    PEOPLE   OF    ISRAEL      27 

untameable,  rejoicing  in  desert  solitudes;  his  hand  is 
against  every  man's  and  every  man's  against  his,  but  he 
has  no  place  in  the  advance  of  history. 

The  long-promised  seed  appears  when  to  Abraham  and 
Sarah  in  their  extreme  old  age  Isaac  is  born,  a  son  of 
promise,  rather  than  a  child  according  to  the  flesh.  Im- 
mediately we  have  the  strange  incident  of  the  offering  of 
Isaac.  Abraham  obeys  without  question,  and  passes 
straight  to  the  appointed  spot,  while  the  child  wonders 
innocently  at  the  absence  of  a  lamb  for  sacrifice  ;  with 
wordless  submission  he  is  bound  on  the  altar.  The  lifted 
knife  is  stayed,  but  the  symbolic  act  has  reached  its  com- 
pletion :  in  their  ancestor  Isaac  the  future  people  of 
Israel  have  been  solemnly  devoted  to  their  mission. 

In  the  second  generation  there  is  a  further  falling  out 
of  the  succession.  Two  children  struggle  in  the  womb 
of  Rebekah :  before  they  are  born  the  oracular  word 
declares  that  the  elder  shall  serve  the  younger.  The 
natural  course  of  events  is  found  to  fulfil  the  prediction. 
From  the  first  Esau  is  attracted  to  the  hunter's  ideal. 
Rough  in  person  he  is  also  rough  in  life;  he  is  full  of 
impulses,  generous  or  revengeful,  but  without  the  tenacity 
of  purpose  that  makes  great  nations.  In  a  fit  of  appe- 
tite he  sells  his  birthright  to  his  younger  brother  for  a 
mess  of  pottage.  He  takes  a  wife  from  the  daughters 
of  the  land,  and  is  thereby  a  grief  to  Isaac  and  Rebekah. 
At  last  we  have  the  strange  story  of  the  stolen  blessing. 
Diversities  of  the  children  have  led  to  favouritism  on  the 
part  of  the  parents :  Isaac,  on  the  verge  of  death,  seeks 
to  use  his  patriarchal  authority  to  secure  the  succession 
for  his  favourite,  Esau,  to  be  proclaimed  at  a  feast  of  the 
venison  his  soul  loveth;  the  mother  takes  advantage  of 


28  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND    STORY 

Isaac's  blindness,  and  by  a  trick  secures  the  blessing  for 
her  pet,  Jacob.  The  father  trembles  when  he  discovers 
the  fraud,  and  Esau  piteously  wails,  "  Hast  thou  but  one 
blessing?  "  But  the  prophetic  word  cannot  be  recalled, 
and  Isaac  has  unconsciously  ratified  the  surrender  which 
Esau  himself  had  made.  Jacob  is  the  lord;  for  Esau 
nothing  can  be  promised  but  the  occasional  rebellion: 
a  foreshadowing  of  Edom,  near  and  bitter  neighbours 
to  Israel,  granted  at  times  to  work  havoc,  but  forever 
outside  the  career  of  sustained  progress. 

Other  stories  illustrate  the  providential  care  that  pre- 
serves the  pure  descent  of  the  coming  race.  Twice 
Abraham  in  his  timidity  disavows  his  wife,  and  twice 
miracle  preserves  Sarah  from  the  princes  of  the  land. 
It  is  the  desire  to  find  a  wife  for  Isaac  out  of  the  origi- 
nal kin  of  Abraham,  which  gives  us  the  beautiful  idyl  of 
the  wooing  of  Rebekah:  the  faithful  steward  and  his 
long  'journey  to  Mesopotamia;  the  prayer  by  the  well; 
the  maiden  Rebekah  unconsciously  using  the  very  words 
that  are  to  be  the  sign  of  the  Lord's  choice;  the  profuse 
hospitality  of  Bethuel;  the  steward's  refusal  to  eat  until 
his  errand  has  been  done;  the  simple  answer,  "The 
thing  proceedeth  from  the  Lord,  we  cannot  speak  unto 
thee  bad  or  good;  "  the  family  longing  to  delay  separa- 
tion and  the  maiden  deciding  for  the  immediate  jour- 
ney; Isaac  receiving  his  new  wife  as  he  is  meditating  in 
the  fields  at  eventide.  Rebekah  in  her  turn  uses  this 
same  necessity  of  a  wife  from  the  homeland  as  an  excuse 
for  getting  Jacob  away  from  Esau's  wrath.  But  in  this 
case  instead  of  idyl  we  have  a  prolonged  story  of  adven- 
ture. The  hospitable  reception  of  Jacob  by  Laban  is 
diversified  with  plenty  of  trickery  on  both  sides:  in  full 


THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF    ISRAEL      29 

detail  we  are  able  to  watch  the  building  up  of  a  fortune 
and  the  formation  of  a  large  family.  Jacob's  first  night 
of  solitude  after  he  had  left  home,  with  its  dream  and 
vow  of  Bethel,  seems  to  open  up  to  him  for  the  first 
time  a  spiritual  world  outside  the  course  of  everyday 
life.  And  on  his  return  journey  we  have  the  mystic 
story  of  struggle  with  supernatural  power,  winning  Jacob 
the  new  name  'Israel,'  from  which  the  chosen  people 
is  to  be  called.  The  story  works  up  to  a  breathless 
climax  in  the  meeting  with  Esau,  and  the  whole  future 
of  the  nation  to  come  trembles  in  the  balance :  but  a 
wave  of  generous  impulse  sweeps  suddenly  over  the 
warrior  huntsman,  and  Israel  is  saved. 

Other  stories,  or  brief  historic  notices,  explain  names 
of  places  in  the  promised  land,  or  touch  upon  peoples 
who  are  to  be  neighbours  to  the  future  Israel.  The 
most  important  of  these  stories  is  the  Burial  of  Sarah. 
In  substance,  the  incident  is  no  more  than  the  purchase 
of  a  piece  of  land;  but  it  is  told  with  all  the  conven- 
tionalities and  elaborate  courtesies  with  which  the  stately 
life  of  the  East  clothes  even  a  commonplace  transaction. 

And  the  children  of  Heth  answered  Abraham,  saying  unto 
him,  Hear  us,  my  lord :  thou  art  a  mighty  prince  among  us : 
in  the  choice  of  our  sepulchres  bury  thy  dead;  none  of  us 
shall  withhold  from  thee  his  sepulchre,  but  that  thou  mayest 
bury  thy  dead.  And  Abraham  rose  up,  and  bowed  himself  to 
the  people  of  the  land,  even  to  the  children  of  Heth.  And  he 
communed  with  them,  saying:  If  it  be  your  mind  that  I  should 
bury  my  dead  out  of  my  sight,  hear  me,  and  intreat  for  me  to 
Ephron  the  son  of  Zohar,  that  he  may  give  me  the  cave  of 
Machpelah,  which  he  hath,  which  is  in  the  end  of  his  field;  for 
the  full  price  let  him  give  it  to  me  in  the  midst  of  you  for  a 
possession  of  a  buryingplace.     Now  Ephron  was  sitting  in  the 


30  BIBLICAL    HISTORY   AND    STORY 

midst  of  the  children  of  Ileth  :  and  Lphron  the  Ilittite  answered 
Abraham  in  the  audience  of  the  children  of  Ileth,  even  of  all 
that  went  in  at  the  gate  of  his  city,  saying,  Nay,  my  lord,  hear 
me :  the  field  give  I  thee,  and  the  cave  that  is  therein,  I  give 
it  thee;  in  the  presence  of  the  sons  of  my  people  give  I  it 
thee :  bury  thy  dead.  And  Abraham  bowed  himself  down 
before  the  people  of  the  land.  And  he  spake  unto  Lphron  in 
the  audience  of  the  people  of  the  land,  saying,  But  if  thou  wilt, 
I  pray  thee,  hear  me :  I  will  give  the  price  of  the  field;  take  it 
of  me,  and  I  will  bury  my  dead  there.  And  Lphron  answered 
Abraham,  saying  unto  him,  My  lord,  hearken  unto  me  :  a  piece 
of  land  worth  four  hundred  shekels  of  silver,  what  is  that  be- 
twixt me  and  thee  ?  bury  therefore  thy  dead.  And  Abraham 
hearkened  unto  Ephron;  and  Abraham  weighed  to  Lphron 
the  silver  which  he  had  named  in  the  audience  of  the  children 
of  Ileth,  four  hundred  shekels  of  silver,  current  money  with  the 
merchant. 

But  there  is  more  in  this  story  than  may  appear  at  first 
sight.  For  a  people  in  the  nomadic  stage  there  can  be 
no  point  of  territorial  fixity  except  the  sepulchres  of 
their  dead.  Thus  in  the  incident  of  Abraham  buying 
the  cave  of  Machpelah  we  have  the  chosen  nation  taking 
formal  possession  of  the  promised  land. 

The  climax  of  Genesis  is  found  in  the  story  of  Joseph, 
which  with  its  elaborate  literary  beauties  has  already 
been  fully  treated.  The  chosen  people  pass  into  Egypt, 
and  there  continue  their  silent  growth.  And  the  blessing 
pronounced  from  the  deathbed  of  Jacob  stamps  upon  the 
tribes  of  Israel  the  varied  characteristics  which  they  are 
to  retain  to  the  end  of  their  history. 

The  Exodus :  or,  Migration  to  the  Land  of  Promise 

The  Exodus  is  a  story  of  national  emigration.  But 
the  forty  years'  passage  through  the  desert  appears  in 


THE   HISTORY   OF  THE    PEOPLE   OF    ISRAEL       31 

the  Scripture  narrative  as  also  the  period  in  which, 
through  the  divine  legislation  of  Moses,  Israel  gradually 
attains  the  national  development  which  in  other  peoples 
is  called  constitutional  history.  Hence,  in  this  second 
division  of  biblical  literature,  the  form  is  a  thin  thread 
of  historic  narrative  running  through  and  binding 
together  the  whole  constitutional  lore  of  Israel.  The 
light  of  story  is  focussed  upon  no  more  than  tujo  points 
of  the  narrative:  it  appears  at  the  beginning  to  display 
the  raw  material  of  slaves  in  Egypt  out  of  which  a  great 
people  may  be  made;  again,  in  the  witness  of  Balaam  to 
a  completed  process  and  a  nation  organised  for  victory. 
Bible  story  is  nowhere  more  vivid  than  in  its  picture 
of  the  Plagues  of  Egypt.  The  curtain  rises  on  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel  as  slaves  in  a  land  where  once  they  had 
been  received  as  guests;  the  Egyptians  secretly  dread 
their  growing  numbers,  and  seek  to  break  their  spirit  by 
hard  labour,  and  to  exterminate  the  male  children.  But 
a  single  babe  escapes,  to  become  the  deliverer  Moses; 
the  Egyptian  court  unconsciously  educates  its  foe,  and 
he  receives  his  commission  an  exile  in  a  desert  beside 
the  burning  bush.  The  story  maybe  prolix  in  its  earlier 
part,  with  reiterated  shrinking  of  Moses,  meek  and  slow 
of  speech,  from  the  bold  work  assigned  him  by  God. 
But  when  Moses  and  Aaron  have  confronted  Pharaoh, 
the  march  of  events  makes  a  moving  panorama  of  miracle. 
Pharaoh  is  the  incarnation  of  sullen  force,  yielding  by 
inches,  or  for  a  single  moment,  only  to  harden  his  heart 
when  the  crisis  is  past.  But  it  is  human  strength  match- 
ing itself  against  the  inexhaustible  resources  of  nature, 
which  Moses  is  permitted  to  wield.  The  river  which  is 
Egypt's  pride  runs  with  blood;  from  out  its  reed-grass 


32  BIBLICAL   HISTORY    AND   STORY 

frogs  invade  the  secret  recesses  of  luxury;  the  dust  of 
the  ground  takes  life  to  become  loathsome  vermin; 
indoors  and  outside  there  is  no  escape  from  swarming 
flies  and  corruption.  While  all  over  the  land  of  Egypt 
beasts  are  dying  of  murrain,  in  Israel's  land  of  Goshen 
the  cattle  are  intact.  The  royal  magicians,  seeking  to 
compete  with  the  wonders  of  Moses,  become  themselves 
victims  to  the  plague  of  boils.  Now  the  heavens  begin 
to  play  their  part,  and  rain  down  wasting  hail,  while,  to 
enhance  the  wonder,  fire  winds  about  the  hailstones  and 
melts  them  not.  The  land  of  Egypt  is  one  mass  of 
desolation :  but  from  outside  the  east  wind  blows 
steadily  until  the  swarming  locusts  hide  the  ground;  at 
a  sign  from  the  champion  of  Israel  the  western  hurri- 
cane succeeds,  and  the  locust  hosts  are  swept  into  the 
Red  Sea.  Then  the  whole  scene  dissolves  into  darkness 
that  might  be  felt:  every  man  a  solitary  prisoner  where 
he  stands.  At  last,  midnight  reveals  the  slain  firstborn, 
and  Pharaoh  and  his  people  thrust  Israel  forth,  bribing 
them  with  jewels  to  be  gone  without  delay.  Even  then 
the  struggle  is  not  over:  Pharaoh  pursues,  and  comes 
upon  the  fugitive  people  entangled  between  the  land  of 
their  foe  and  the  seacoast.  Now  appears  the  climax 
toward  which  events  have  been  trending.  The  mass 
of  cloud  which  hides  the  people  from  their  pursuers 
becomes  luminous  to  the  Israelites,  and  points  a  way 
opened  through  the  midst  of  the  sea  itself;  the  chosen 
people  pass  forward  on  dry  ground,  with  the  waters 
towering  above  them  on  either  hand.  The  veil  of  cloud 
lifting,  the  Egyptian  hosts  follow  on  the  strange  path; 
but  the  moistening  sand  makes  their  wheels  heavy,  and 
the  returning  waters  whelm  them  in  the  depths.     On  the 


THE   HISTORY    OF   THE    PEOPLE  OF   ISRAEL      33 

other  side  rises  the  shout  of  freedom:  women  with  tim- 
brels and  dances  reiterate  the  one  thought  of  deliver- 
ance, while  in  the  pauses  of  the  dance  the  men  sing  the 
marvels  by  which  the  deliverance  has  come  about. 

The  floods  stood  upright  as  an  heap  ; 

The  deeps  were  congealed  in  the  heart  of  the  sea. 

The  enemy  said,  I  will  pursue,  I  will  overtake, 

I  will  divide  the  spoil    .    .  . 
Thou  didst  blow  with  thy  wind;    the  sea  covered  them: 
They  sank  as  lead  in  the  mighty  waters. 

Historic  narrative  follows  to  trace  the  earlier  jour- 
neyings  of  Israel.  The  general  spirit  is  a  looking-back 
to  the  fleshly  ease  of  Egypt;  particular  incidents  bring 
out  the  miraculous  provision  of  water  in  the  desert,  the 
feeding  with  bread  from  heaven.  Contact  with  Amalek 
gives  Israel  its  first  war;  a  meeting  with  Jethro,  the 
father-in-law  of  Moses,  leads  to  the  first  step  in  organisa- 
tion—  the  creation  of  subordinate  officials  to  relieve  the 
supreme  lawgiver.  Three  months'  journeying  leads  to 
the  long  halt  in  the  desert  of  Sinai. 

At  this  point  the  other  side  of  The  Exodus  becomes 
prominent,  by  which  it  is  to  be  the  constitutional  his- 
tory of  the  people  of  Israel.  We  find,  in  succession, 
four  Covenants1  between  God  and  his  chosen  people; 
that  is  to  say,  the  perpetual  covenant  relation  between 
God  and  Israel  embodies  itself  successively  in  four  sys- 
tems of  legislative  enactment.  Each  'Book  of  the 
Covenant '  presents  the  circumstances  under  which  it  is 
promulgated,  the  code  of  laws  itself,  and,  at  the  close, 
some  verbal  or  ceremonial  sanction  for  the  law.  First, 
there  is  the  Law  of  the  Ten  Commandments:  here,  amid 

1  For  references  see  '  The  Exodus  '  in  the  Appendix. 


34  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   STORY 

thunder  and  mystic  darkness,  the  voice  of  God  is  heard 
by  the  people.  A  Book  of  the  Covenant  immediately 
follows,  of  which  Moses  is  the  mediator.  Whereas  the 
decalogue  had  only  given  basic  principles  of  a  moral 
system,  this  fuller  covenant  contains  a  complete  code  of 
criminal  law;  with  economic  enactments,  such  as  the 
regulation  of  slavery,  or  prohibition  of  usury,  or  estab- 
lishment of  sabbatic  rest  for  the  land;  it  contains  also 
enactments  as  to  worship,  and  establishes  the  three 
annual  feasts.  Besides  the  promises  and  threats  which 
make  the  conclusion,  there  is  a  ceremonial  sanction  with 
sacrifice,  and  the  people  are  sprinkled  with  "the  blood 
of  the  covenant."  Again,  when  Israel,  in  the  absence 
of  Moses,  has  worshipped  the  golden  calf,  we  have  the 
Covenant  of  the  Second  Table.  Moses  first  works  ven- 
geance on  the  idolaters  by  the  hands  of  the  zealous 
Levites;  then  turns  back  to  intercede  passionately  that 
the  Lord  shall  not  blot  out  his  people.  Accordingly, 
where  before  only  an  angel  had  been  promised  as  leader 
to  Israel,  Jehovah  is  now  brought  to  declare  that  his 
very  presence  shall  go  with  his  people,  and  be  the  sanc- 
tion of  the  new  covenant.  It  is  only  necessary  in  this 
case  to  recapitulate  leading  enactments:  and  Moses  thus 
bears  a  second  table  to  the  people,  his  face  supernatu- 
rally  radiant  with  the  glory  into  which  he  has  been 
admitted.  There  remains  yet  one  more  —  the  Covenant 
of  Holiness.  Modern  associations  with  this  word  must 
not  make  us  forget  that  here  we  are  dealing  with  national, 
not  personal,  religion.  The  holiness  is  here  the  separate- 
ness  of  God's  peculiar  people:  separation  from  the  sins 
or  evil  customs  of  surrounding  people;  separation  by 
national    signs,    such   as  the    sabbath    and    the    jubile; 


THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL      35 

separateness  in  laws  or  legal  customs;  holiness,  finally, 
as  opposed  to  uncleanness  in  the  offerings  to  the  Lord. 
A  long-sustained  denunciation  of  thrilling  curses  upon 
disobedience  brings  this  fourth  covenant  to  a  close. 

When  the  march  is  resumed  from  Sinai  —  now  with 
pomp  of  ark  and  tabernacle  and  ordered  procession  of 
the  tribes  —  we  find  successive  sections  of  the  history 
relating  little  but  outbreaks  of  the  spirit  of  murmuring, 
which  reaches  its  climax  in  the  incident  of  the  spies. 
This  is  the  turning-point  of  The  Exodus.  At  the  very 
threshold  of  the  promised  land  the  report  of  the  spies 
makes  the  heart  of  the  people  to  fail  with  the  thought  of 
the  giants  and  cities  fenced  up  to  heaven.  Divine  wrath 
dooms  the  murmuring  generation  to  wander  in  the 
wilderness,  while  only  the  children,  who  have  never 
known  the  enervating  life  of  Egypt,  shall  go  over  to 
take  possession  of  the  land  of  Canaan.  For  thirty-eight 
more  years  the  wilderness  life  is  prolonged;  the  older 
generation  dying  out,  the  youth  gaining  hardihood  from 
desert  life.  Little  is  told  of  the  eight-and-thirty  years, 
and  that  little  belongs  to  the  close.  Only  a  later  section 
displays  Moses  as  himself  involved  in  the  doom  of  the 
people  he  has  ruled;  his  successor,  Joshua,  is  to  lead 
the  nation  over  Jordan. 

The  whole  forty  years  of  The  Exodus  find  their  most 
important  history,  not  in  incidents  of  the  journey,  but 
in  the  constitutional  documents  which  fill  up  this  part 
of  Scripture.  The  documents1  fall  into  two  classes. 
One  class  is  purely  statistical.  We  have  a  census  of 
the  children  of  Israel  who  came  into  Egypt;  another 
of  the  tribes  on  the  march;  another  of  those  who  died 

1  For  references  see  '  The  Exodus  '  in  the  Appendix. 


36  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   STORY 

in  the  plague  of  Moab;  another  of  the  oblations  at  the 
dedication  of  the  tabernacle.  A  detailed  specification 
is  given  of  the  tabernacle  and  its  service;  again,  in 
almost  the  same  words,  a  specification  of  the  carrying 
out  of  the  same.  A  calendar  of  sacred  feasts  is  natu- 
rally found.  And  there  are  geographical  statistics: 
an  itinerary  of  wilderness  journeys;  allotments  of  lands 
to  the  tribes;  allotments  of  cities  for  Levites;  and,  espe- 
cially, of  the  cities  of  refuge,  by  aid  of  which  voluntary 
exile  was  to  discriminate  between  murder  and  homicide. 
Perhaps  the  most  obvious  literary  impression  left  upon 
our  minds  by  reading  such  documents  is  the  immense 
difference  made  by  the  most  elementary  machinery  of 
modern  figures.  One  important  census1  in  The  Exodus 
would,  in  a  modern  book,  be  fully  conveyed  by  this 
brief  form :  — 

Generations,  by  families,  by  fathers'  houses,  according  to  the 
number  of  the  names,  by  their  polls,  every  male  from  twenty 
years  old  and  upward,  all  that  were  able  to  go  forth  to  war : 
Of  the  tribe  of 

Reuben 46,500 

Simeon 59>3°° 

Gad 45>65° 

Judah 74,600 

Issachar 544°° 

Zebulun        57>4°° 

Joseph  [Ephraim] 40,500 

Joseph  [Manasseh] 32,200 

Benjamin 35>4°° 

Dan 62,700 

Asher 4I>5°° 

Naphtali 53«4°o 

Total 603,550 

1  Numbers  i.  20-44. 


THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL       37 

In    the    Bible    this    has    to     be    expressed    with    full 
verbiage :  — 

Of  the  children  of  Simeon,  their  generations,  by  their  fami- 
lies, by  their  fathers'  houses,  those  that  were  numbered  thereof, 
according  to  the  number  of  the  names,  by  their  pulls,  every  male 
from  twenty  years  old  and  upward,  all  that  were  able  to  go  forth 
to  war  ;  those  that  were  numbered  of  them,  of  the  tribe  of 
Simeon,  were  fifty  and  nine  thousand  and  three  hundred. 

Of  the  children  of  Gad,  their  generations,  by  their  families, 
etc. 

and  so  on,  in  twelve  paragraphs,  identical  save  for  the 
alteration  of  the  numbers. 

Again,  we  have  a  long  array  of  Laws  and  Ordinances. 
The  deliverance  from  Egypt  gives  us  the  Ordinances  ot 
the  Passover  and  of  the  Firstborn.  The  incident  of 
Nadab  and  Abihu  connects  itself  with  the  Law  of  the 
Consecration  of  Priests;  the  more  serious  outbreak  of 
Korah  and  his  crew  leads  to  a  consolidation  of  the  whole 
law  in  respect  to  priests  and  Levites.  Our  modern 
case-made  law  is  exactly  paralleled  in  the  Judgment  of 
the  Sabbath-breaker;  in  the  Law  of  the  Inheritance  of 
Daughters,  and  its  sequel,  On  the  Marriage  of  Heiresses; 
in  the  Law  of  Spoils:  in  each  instance  a  general  prin- 
ciple is  brought  into  consideration  by  a  particular  case 
that  raises  it.  The  Law  of  Oblations  has  constitutional 
importance  as  providing  for  the  support  of  the  priest- 
hood. The  Law  of  Purification  and  Atonement  is  in 
reality  a  system  of  diet  and  regimen;  that  of  Vows  and 
Tithes  a  settlement  of  voluntary  and  regular  taxation;  the 
Ritual  of  the  Heifer  of  Purification  treats  of  ceremonial 
cleanness,  or,  in  other  words,  makes  cleanliness  a  matter 
of  religion.     There  is  even  a  Law  of  Fringes,  regulating 


38  BIBLICAL    HISTORY    AND    STORY 

the  item  of  dress  that  was  to  be  a  perpetual  reminder  to 
the  Israelites  not  "to  go  about  after  their  own  heart  and 
their  own  eyes,"  but  to  remember  the  commandments 
of  the  Lord. 

At  its  close,  the  history  of  The  Exodus  strikes  the 
period  covered  by  the  lost  book,  The  Wars  of  Jehovah, 
and  snatches  of  heroic  ballad  light  up  bare  narrative, 
painting  a  total  discomfiture  of  Moab,  or  recalling  the 
folk-song  of  the  well :  — 

Spring  up,  O  well;   sing  ye  unto  it; 
The  well,  which  the  princes  digged, 
Which  the  nobles  of  the  people  delved, 
With  the  sceptre,  and  with  their  staves. 

Israel  is  facing  the  last  peoples  that  stand  between  them 
and  the  land  of  promise.  Their  kindred  of  Edom  they 
respect;  but  Sihon  of  the  Amorites  and  Og  of  Bashan 
are  utterly  exterminated,  and  their  land  settled  by 
Israel's  more  pastoral  tribes.  It  is  here  that  we  reach 
the  second  of  the  two  epic  stories  of  The  Exodus:  the 
Plagues  of  Egypt  had  presented  Israel  in  their  abase- 
ment, the  Witness  of  Balaam  enables  us  to  see  the  same 
people  as  a  unique  nation,  a  terror  to  all  around. 

Moab  is  one  of  the  peoples  that  are  trembling  before 
the  advance  of  Israel,  and  the  Moabite  king,  Balak, 
sends  to  a  distant  land  for  Balaam  to  come  and  curse 
the  foe.  This  Balaam  is  a  sincere  worshipper  of  Jeho- 
vah; he  is  a  man  endowed  with  the  spirit  of  prophecy, 
and  in  his  prophetic  ecstasy  has  a  supernatural  insight 
which  to  the  heathen  around  him  seems  enchantment. 
But  when  not  in  these  moments  of  exaltation  he  is  an 
ordinary,  worldly  man,  adapting  himself  to  those  around 


THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL   39 

him  and  seeking  his  own  material  interests:  he  is  a 
supreme  example  of  an  attempt  to  serve  God  and  Mam- 
mon. On  two  occasions  he  goes  as  far  as  he  can  to  meet 
the  views  of  the  Moabite  king,  and  orders  the  prelimi- 
nary sacrifices.  But  in  each  case,  as  he  seeks  solitude 
for  the  prophetic  exaltation,  the  spiritual  side  of  Balaam 
prevails,  and  curse  becomes  blessing:  by  a  rare  literary 
effect  the  prose  of  the  story  becomes  verse  to  clothe  the 
outpouring  of  prophecy :  — 

For  from  the  top  of  the  rocks  I  see  him, 

And  from  the  hills  I  behold  him; 
Lo,  it  is  a  people  that  dwell  alone, 

And  shall  not  be  reckoned  among  the  nations. 

Balak  in  desperation  chooses  a  third  point  of  view, 
and  Balaam  listlessly  attends  him.  Without  seeking 
solitude  this  time,  the  prophet  simply  turns  where  he 
stands  to  gaze  on  Israel  in  the  desert  below.  His  eye  is 
caught  by  the  serried  ranks  of  tents,  the  orderly  array  to 
which  Israel  has  been  disciplined,  so  different  from  the 
rude  encampments  of  desert  hordes :  in  a  new  outburst 
he  compares  this  to  spreading  valleys,  gardens  by  the 
river  side,  avenues  of  aloes  of  Jehovah's  planting;  and 
he  yet  again  exalts  the  people's  lion-like  might.  When 
Balak  storms,  Balaam  pours  forth  prophecies  more  dis- 
tinct, and  tells  of  Moab,  Seir,  Edom,  Amalek,  all  over- 
thrown by  the  sceptre  that  shall  rise  out  of  Israel.  Thus 
Balaam  in  his  mood  of  inspiration  has  been  compelled 
to  witness  to  the  finished  work  of  The  Exodus.  But 
when  story  gives  place  to  history  we  are  able  to  see, 
not  by  direct  statement,  but  by  inference,  how  in 
some  uninspired  hour  Balaam  descended  to  the  office 
of  tempter,  and  suggested    the  seductive  influences  of 


40  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   STORY 

Moab's  daughters,1  which  drew  Israel  into  lust,  and  the 
following  plague,  and,  finally,  to  war.  From  the  list 
of  the  slain1'  we  find  that  Balaam  the  man  died  fighting 
against  the  people  whom  Balaam  the  prophet  had  blessed. 

Deuteronomy  :  or,  The  Farewell  of  Moses  to  Israel 

At  the  point  we  have  now  reached  the  succession  of 
historic  books  is  interrupted  by  a  book  which  is  not  his- 
tory, but  oratory.  A  full  title  for  Deuia'onomy  might 
be,  The  Orations  and  Songs  of  Moses,  constituting  his 
Farewell  to  the  People  of  Israel.  As  oratory  it  is  unsur- 
passed, in  its  rush  of  rhythmic  sentences,  its  ebb  and 
flow  of  exalted  passion,  its  accents  of  appeal  and  denun- 
ciation. The  matter  is  as  striking  as  the  form.  Deu- 
teronomy has  been  called  the  most  spiritual  book  in  the 
Old  Testament;  its  sudden  discovery  worked  a  religious 
revolution,  and  from  the  days  of  Josiah  to  the  days  of 
Jesus  it  was  a  text-book  of  Jewish  devoutness.  But  the 
spiritually  minded  Moses  has  to  encounter  a  people 
moved  mainly  by  material  promises  and  threats:  through 
the  entire  book  the  two  tides  of  feeling  are  in  conflict. 
And  beneath  the  whole  lies  a  situation  unique  in  its 
human  pathos:  all  who  listen  will  enter  the  land  of 
promise,  he  who  speaks  is  the  only  one  excluded.  Thus, 
through  the  succession  of  orations  a  dramatic  situation 
is  being  developed;  at  length  — with  the  elasticity  that 
distinguishes  Hebrew  literature  —  oratory  gives  place  to 
song,  and  a  climax  is  reached  in  which  pathos  is  only  an 
undertone  in  glorious  triumph. 

The  very  title  page  of  the  book  lays  stress  upon  the 

1  Numbers  xxxi.  16.  2  Numbers  xxxi.  8. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL   41 

scene,  some  spot  in  the  deep  Arabah,  where  we  can 
conceive  of  a  vast  multitude  being  brought  picturesquely 
within  the  sight  and  hearing  of  a  single  speaker.  In 
the  first  of  the  four  orations  Moses  announces  his  Depo- 
sition from  the  Leadership  of  Israel.  In  the  calm  tone 
of  historic  survey  is  traced  a  succession  of  events,  end- 
ing with  that  outburst  of  murmuring  which  drove  Israel 
from  the  border  of  the  promised  land  to  eight-and-thirty 
years  of  wilderness  wandering.  The  tone  of  the  new 
generation,  and  the  glorious  conquests  accorded  them, 
had  raised  again  the  personal  hopes  of  Moses;  he  had 
besought  the  Lord  that  he  might  see  the  good  land 
beyond  Jordan;  he  had  received  the  final  word,  "Speak 
no  more  to  me  of  this  matter."  Thus  his  work  is  done 
as  mediator  through  whom  the  commandments  of  God 
are  made  known  to  Israel :  the  commandments  remain 
for  Israel  to  obey,  and  this  obedience  shall  be  their  wis- 
dom among  the  nations.  A  peroration  presents  Israel, 
by  their  history  and  their  legislation,  gloriously  separate 
among  the  peoples  of  the  world. 

The  second  oration  belongs  to  a  ceremonial  occasion: 
The  Delivery  of  the  Covenant  to  the  Levites  and  Elders. 
The  commandments  of  which  Moses  has  been  the  speaker 
have  now  been  put  in  written  form;  this  'Book  of  the 
Covenant '  — which,  in  fifteen  chapters,  follows  the  sec- 
ond oration  —  we  must  suppose  handed  to  the  Levites 
and  elders  grouped  around  Moses,  and  in  their  cus- 
tody it  is  henceforward  to  remain.  In  the  oration  itself 
Moses  appeals  to  his  hearers  to  write  these  command- 
ments upon  their  heart,  talking  of  them  when  they  sit 
in  their  house  and  when  they  walk  by  the  way,  when  they 
lie  down  and  when  they  rise  up.     The  speech  surveys 


42  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND    STORY 

the  forty  years  of  providential  mercies  in  the  wilderness, 
and  also  the  succession  of  murmurings  and  rebellions. 
Not  for  their  own  righteousness  will  the  people  of  Israel 
conquer  the  nations;  only  as  reward  for  their  own  obedi- 
ence will  the  land  of  promise  enjoy  the  rain  of  heaven, 
and  send  forth  its  corn  and  wine  and  oil. 

In  place  of  a  peroration  we  find  reference  to  a  still 
more  imposing  function  that  is  to  follow.  An  ordinance 
makes  provision  for  the  Ceremonial  of  the  Blessing  and 
the  Curse,  as  an  institution  for  the  other  side  of  Jordan. 
But  there  is  a  rehearsal !  of  this  ceremonial  in  the  pres- 
ence of  Moses :  priests  standing  round  the  ark  in  the 
valley  chaunt  the  curses,  and  the  whole  multitude  on  the 
slopes  shout  their  Amen.  Being  only  a  rehearsal,  Moses 
interrupts  this  before  it  is  concluded;  and  himself,  in 
what  constitutes  the  third  oration,  goes  over  the  matter 
of  blessing  and  curse.  Nowhere  in  literature  is  there  to 
be  found  so  sustained  an  effort  of  terror-striking  speech. 
Curses  are  to  descend  upon  the  guilty  in  city  and  field, 
when  they  come  in  or  go  out,  in  basket  or  kneading 
trough,  in  war  or  peace,  in  every  element  of  life;  curses 
from  the  heaven  above  or  the  earth  under  foot;  curses 
on  fruit  of  body,  of  cattle,  of  land;  curses  in  the  form 
of  madness,  or  loathly  sickness,  of  defeat  and  every 
form  of  adversity  and  helplessness.  Instead  of  joyous 
service  of  Jehovah  amid  abundance  of  all  things,  they 
shall  serve  a  bitter  enemy  in  hunger  and  thirst  and  lack 
of  all  things;  horrors  of  war  and  siege  are  painted,  with 

1  Chapter  xxvii  seems  to  combine  an  ordinance  for  the  Ceremonial 
of  the  Blessing  and  the  Curse  on  the  other  side  of  Jordan  with  a  partial 
rehearsal  on  the  spot,  this  latter  interrupted  by  the  Third  Oration,  Chapter 
xxviii. 


THE    HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL      43 

delicate  women  devouring  their  own  children.  The 
guilty  shall  be  scattered  as  an  abomination  through  the 
idol-worshipping  nations. 

And  among  these  nations  shalt  thou  find  no  ease,  and  there 
shall  be  no  rest  for  the  sole  of  thy  foot :  but  the  Lord  shall 
give  thee  there  a  trembling  heart,  and  failing  of  eyes,  and 
pining  of  soul:  and  thy  life  shall  hang  in  doubt  before  thee; 
and  thou  shalt  fear  night  and  day,  and  shalt  have  none  assur- 
ance of  thy  life  :  in  the  morning  thou  shalt  say,  Would  God  it 
were  even  !  and  at  even  thou  shalt  say,  Would  God  it  were 
morning !  for  the  fear  of  thine  heart  which  thou  shalt  fear, 
and  for  the  sight  of  thine  eyes  which  thou  shalt  see.  And 
the  Lord  shall  bring  thee  into  Egypt  again  with  ships,  by 
the  way  whereof  I  said  unto  thee,  Thou  shalt  see  it  no 
more  again :  and  there  ye  shall  sell  yourselves  unto  your 
enemies  for  bondmen  and  for  bondwomen :  and  no  man  shall 
buy  you. 

In  the  fourth  oration  we  mark  a  transition  from 
national  to  personal  religion:  if  a  man  is  cherishing 
evil  in  his  secret  heart,  and  thinking  to  escape  in  the 
general  righteousness,  he  shall  be  separated  from  all 
Israel  for  the  curse  to  descend  upon  him.  Yet  even 
when  the  curse  has  come  down,  from  the  most  distant 
land  of  exile  there  is  a  way  of  escape  by  turning  to  God 
with  full  purpose  of  heart.  Nor  is  this  difficult:  the 
word  is  not  afar  off,  but  in  the  very  hearts  of  Israel. 
Moses  calls  heaven  and  earth  to  witness  that  he  has  set 
before  his  people  life  and  death :  "choose  life,  that  thou 
mayest  live."  ^Yith  a  single  reference  to  his  extreme 
age  and  waning  strength,  Moses,  with  words  of  cheer 
on  his  lips,  withdraws  from  the  people  he  has  led,  and 
installs  Joshua  in  his  place. 


41  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   STORY 

A  wave  of  poetic  impulse  comes  over  the  retired 
leader,  anxious  for  his  people  when  he  is  gone. 

My  doctrine  shall  drop  as  the  rain, 

My  speech  shall  distil  as  the  dew; 
As  the  small  rain  upon  the  tender  grass, 

And  as  the  showers  upon  the  herb. 

This  Song  of  Moses  celebrates  Jehovah  as  the  Rock  of 
Israel,  Jeshurun  as  the  people  of  his  inheritance,  kept 
as  the  apple  of  his  eye.  When  Jeshurun,  fed  with  all 
the  richness  of  nature,  waxes  fat  and  kicks,  all  nature  is 
aflame  with  vengeance.  Bitter  suffering  shows  the  dif- 
ference between  the  Rock  of  Israel  and  the  loathly  gods 
to  whom  Israel  has  revolted;  commiseration  changes 
in  the  heart  of  Deity  to  vengeance,  and  Jehovah  again 
fights  on  behalf  of  his  own  people. 

We  have  reached  the  last  stage  of  the  action,  and  the 
Passing  of  Moses.  The  whole  people  wait  to  see  their 
leader  depart  on  his  mystic  journey:  heads  of  the  tribes 
line  the  route.  Moses,  with  lingering  steps,  passes 
along,  speaking  to  each  leader  words  that  thrill :  old  war 
cries  of  the  tribes,  or  prophetic  picturings,  to  be  treas- 
ured up  as  blessings  for  the  future.  Reuben,  strong  in 
numbers;  Judah,  sufficient  of  his  hands.  Levi  has  been 
proved  at  the  water  of  strife.  On  the  shoulders  of  Ben- 
jamin Jehovah  shall  have  his  dwelling.  Joseph  is  dow- 
ered with  all  gifts  of  sky  and  deep,  of  ancient  mountains 
and  everlasting  hills.  Zebulun  the  wanderer,  Issachar 
with  his  tent  life,  Gad  the  lioness,  Dan  the  lion's  whelp, 
Naphtali  rejoicing  in  his  western  sea  and  sunny  south, 
Asher  in  wealth  of  oil  and  brass :  each  has  received  his 
word  of  farewell.  For  a  last  time  Moses  takes  in  at  a 
single  view  the  vast  multitude,  and  lifts  his  hands  in  the 
final  blessing:  — 


THE   HISTORY   OF  THE    PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL      45 

There  is  none  like  unto  God,  O  Jeshurun, 
Who  rideth  upon  the  heaven  for  thy  help, 
And  in  his  excellency  on  the  skies. 

The  eternal  God  is  thy  dwelling  place, 
And  underneath  are  the  everlasting  arms. 

Then  Moses  turns  to  resume  the  journey  on  which  none 
may  accompany  him.  Like  the  hush  that  follows  a  pas- 
sionate climax  comes  a  drop  to  the  barest  prose,  telling 
of  the  ascent,  the  gaze  from  Pisgah's  top  over  the  prom- 
ised land,  the  solitary  death,  the  sepulchre  that  no  man 
knoweth.  The  mighty  personality  which  has  linked 
the  bondmen  of  Egypt  to  the  conquerors  of  the  land  of 
promise  has  passed  out  of  the  history  of  Israel. 

The  Judges :  or,  Transition  to  a  Secular  Monarchy 

Heroes  of  the  Transition :  this  might  be  a  title  for  the 
portion  of  sacred  history  which  is  contained  in  the  bib- 
lical Joshua,  Judges,  and  part  of  Samuel.  Hitherto 
Israel  has  had  the  distinction  among  the  nations  of  a 
theocracy,  the  government  of  an  invisible  God,  whose 
will  is  made  known  through  his  representative,  Moses. 
In  the  future  they  will  be  found  living  under  ordinary 
kings,  who  succeed  by  natural  descent.  In  the  inter- 
vening period  we  find,  at  intervals,  and  for  portions  of 
the  nation,  rulers  of  a  special  kind,  who  are  called  in 
the  Bible  'judges.'  But  the  associations  of  this  English 
word  are  altogether  misleading.  The  judges  of  Israel 
are  nearer  to  the  'heroes  '  of  other  peoples;  and,  like  the 
heroes  of  chivalry,  their  glory  is  redressing  human  wrongs 
by  the  sword.  They  are,  however,  distinctly  commis- 
sioned by  God :  as  we  find  prophets  and  'angels  '  in  this 


46  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   STORY 

history  interpreting  God's  will,  so  the  judge  does  God's 
work.  Thus,  the  spirit  of  the  history  is  here  given  in 
the  heroic  stories.  But  the  stories  are  fitted  into  a 
framework  of  narrative,  under  which  we  can  trace  a 
gradual  change  of  spirit,  leading  the  people  of  Israel 
to  assimilate  themselves  to  the  nations  around  with  a 
secular  kingship. 

To  Joshua  the  term 'judge  '  is  hardly  applicable :  he 
is  the  successor  of  Moses,  and  carries  the  exodus  to  its 
natural  conclusion  in  a  conquest  of  Canaan.  Yet  here 
also  the  spirit  of  the  period  is  conveyed  in  heroic  story. 
Like  the  spies  who  brought  the  grapes  of  Eshcol  to  the 
wilderness,  we  have  the  exciting  adventures  of  the  spies 
sent  to  Jericho,  received  in  the  house  over  the  wall,  and 
let  down  by  Rahab  with  the  scarlet  rope  which  was  to 
save  her  in  the  destruction  of  the  city.  The  miraculous 
crossing  of  the  Jordan  recalls  the  crossing  of  the  Red 
Sea.  The  first  city  is  conquered  by  no  human  force : 
a  mystic  captain  of  the  Lord's  host  takes  command, 
and  the  city  walls  fall  before  a  shout.  The  war  against 
Ai  reminds  us  that  we  are  in  a  remote  age  in  which  the 
feigned  retreat  and  ambush  are  military  novelties;  but 
here  —  as  so  often  under  Moses  the  aim  of  the  people 
interfered  with  the  intentions  of  providence  —  the 
covetousness  of  Achan  brings  defeat,  until  it  is  purged 
by  his  stoning  in  the  Valley  of  Trouble.  Story  interest 
is  now  varied :  in  place  of  war  we  have  the  wily  embassy 
of  the  Gibeonites,  who  with  their  old  shoes  and  clouted 
and  musty  bread  deceive  Israel  into  making  an  alliance 
with  them  as  a  distant  people.  This  alliance  brings 
against  Joshua  the  League  of  the  Five  Kings.  In  the 
Battle  of  Beth-horon,  that  overthrows  these  kings,   the 


THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL      47 

very  heavens  are  on  the  side  of  Israel :  the  historic  nar- 
rative speaks  of  hailstones  destroying  more  than  the 
swords  of  the  people,  while  the  ballad  that  is  quoted 
makes  mention  of  greater  wonders:  — 

Sun,  stand  thou  still  upon  Gibeon; 

And  thou,  Moon,  in  the  valley  of  Aijalon  ! 
And  the  sun  stood  still, 
And  the  moon  stayed, 

Until  the  nation  had  avenged  themselves  of  their  enemies. 

After  these  stories  we  have  only  brief  summaries  of  con- 
quests in  other  parts  of  Canaan;  an  elaborate  state-paper 
fixes  the  allotments  of  land  among  the  tribes.  Then, 
recalling  the  Farewell  of  Moses,  we  have  the  solemn 
scene  in  which  Joshua  renews  the  covenant  between 
God  and  his  people,  and  writes  their  vow  in  the  book  of 
the  law  of  God. 

It  is  where  the  biblical  title  changes  to  The  Book  of 
Judges  that  the  general  character  of  the  transition  period 
becomes  apparent.  The  Israelites  have  committed  the 
fatal  error  of  not  entirely  driving  out  the  nations  of  the 
land :  those  nations  that  are  left  become  so  many  "  thorns 
in  their  sides."1  The  gods  of  these  nations  seduce 
Israel  to  idolatry,  and  the  wrath  of  Jehovah  falls  upon 
them.  It  is  to  meet  situations  like  this  that  judges  are 
raised  up. 

And  when  the  Lord  raised  them  up  judges,  then  the  Lord 
was  with  the  judge,  and  saved  them  out  of  the  hand  of  their 
enemies  all  the  days  of  the  judge;  for  it  repented  the  Lord 
because  of  their  groaning  by  reason  of  them  that  oppressed 
them  and  vexed  them.  But  it  came  to  pass,  when  the  judge 
was  dead,  that  they  turned  back,  and  dealt  more  corruptly  than 
their  fathers,  in  following  other  gods  to  serve  them.2 

1  Judges  ii.  3.  2  Judges  ii.  18-19. 


48  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   STORY 

The  history  follows  the  succession  of  these  heroic 
saviours.  Sometimes  no  more  is  given  than  the  source 
of  the  oppression  and  the  name  of  the  judge.  Or  some 
single  detail  is  added  :  the  ox-goad  of  Shamgar,1  Abdoir 
with  his  forty  sons  and  thirty  grandsons  riding  on  their 
seventy  ass  colts.  Or  again,  with  all  the  vividness  of  an 
eye-witness,  is  related  the  assassination  of  the  Moabite 
oppressor,  and  how  Ehud  was  able  to  bury  his  sword  in 
the  body  of  "a  very  fat  man." 

Of  the  greater  crises  the  first  is  the  "mighty  oppres- 
sion" of  Jabin  and  Sisera,  when  "the  highways  were 
unoccupied  and  the  travellers  walked  through  byways." 
The  tyrants  had  nine  hundred  chariots  of  iron :  against 
a  force  like  this  the  half-armed  infantry  of  Israel  would 
be  helpless,  except  by  surprise.  This  seems  to  have 
been  the  plan  of  Barak,  when,  roused  by  a  prophetess, 
Deborah,  he  leads  the  muster  of  Zebulun  and  Naphtali 
to  the  high  ground  of  Kedesh,  from  which  they  can 
choose  a  moment  for  a  sudden  attack.  But  treachery  is 
at  work.  The  Kenites  had  united  with  Israel  during 
the  wilderness  journeys,  retaining  in  Canaan  their  tent 
life.  Heber  the  Kenite,  however,  is  described  as  mov- 
ing his  tent  away  from  his  brethren  until  he  is  in  touch 
with  Kedesh;  he  is  at  peace  with  King  Jabin:  in  fact, 
holds  the  peaceful  relation  of  a  spy.  Accordingly  the 
surprise  is  frustrated,  and  the  army  of  Sisera  fills  the 
plain  of  Esdraelon.  But  "  the  stars  in  their  courses 
fought  against  Sisera";  a  sudden  shower  had  converted 
the  whole  plain  into  a  morass,  and  while  the  horses  are 
madly  prancing  in  the  mud  the  Israelites  are  able  to 
exterminate  the  enemy  in  a  single  day.  Sisera  fleeing 
1  iii.  31.  2  xii.  14. 


THE    HISTORY   OF   THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL       49 

from  the  battle  seeks  the  friendly  tent  of  Heber.  But 
Heber's  wife,  Jael,  had  had  no  sympathy  with  her  hus- 
band's baseness;  she  now  sees  her  opportunity:  with 
feigned  hospitality  luring  Sisera  to  rest  she  drives  the 
nail  through  his  temples  while  he  sleeps.  The  strange 
providence  by  which  the  treason  of  the  husband  was  bal- 
anced by  the  treachery  of  the  wife,  this,  as  much  as  the 
victory  itself,  inspires  the  exultation  of  Deborah's  Song. 
The  scene  changes  to  Gilead,  and  the  oppressors  are 
now  Bedouin  hordes  of  the  desert  —  Midianites,  Amale- 
kites,  and  children  of  the  east,  as  locusts  for  multitude, 
and  their  camels  as  sand  that  is  upon  the  seashore,  with 
tawdry  splendour  of  earrings  and  crescents  and  pendants 
and  chains  upon  the  camels'  necks;  before  their  devour- 
ing progress  all  sustenance  of  crops  and  flocks  vanishes, 
and  the  men  of  Israel  take  refuge  in  caves  and  mountain 
dens.  The  spirit  of  the  story  is  a  sort  of  providential 
scorn  for  the  vanity  of  mere  numbers.  The  champion 
raised  up  is  of  a  family  the  poorest  in  Manasseh,  and  he 
least  in  his  father's  house.  Gideon  hears  with  aston- 
ishment the  angel's  salutation  to  him  as  a  mighty  man  of 
valour;  before  he  can  rise  to  the  description  he  needs 
sign  after  sign  to  reassure  him  —  the  angel  departing  in 
the  flame  of  sacrifice,  the  fleece  moist  when  all  around 
is  dry,  dry  when  all  around  is  moist.  With  strenuous 
exertions  Gideon  has  got  an  army  together.  They  are 
pronounced  too  many :  the  proclamation  for  all  the  fear- 
ful and  trembling  to  depart  releases  two  out  of  every 
three.  The  ten  thousand  that  remain  are  still  too  many : 
the  chance  token  of  lapping  with  the  hands  instead  of 
kneeling  down  to  drink  selects  a  three  hundred  who  are 
enough   as  the   instrument  with  which  Jehovah's  work 


50  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   STORY 

will  be  done.  As  the  crisis  draws  near  there  is  the 
thrilling  night  adventure  of  Gideon  and  his  servant 
descending  into  the  midst  of  the  sleeping  hosts,  and 
hearing  one  tell  a  fellow  his  dream.  In  the  heart  of  the 
vast  multitude,  it  appears,  there  is  dread  of  the  sword  of 
Gideon.  The  hint  is  caught:  Gideon's  strategy  is  the 
manufacture  of  a  panic.  Torches  are  covered  with 
pitchers:  at  the  word  of  command  the  pitchers  are  shat- 
tered, the  torches  flare  out,  the  trumpet  rings,  and  with 
the  shout  "The  sword  of  the  Lord  and  of  Gideon"  the 
,  three  hundred  charge  down  the  three  slopes,  and  drive 
the  Midianite  hosts  down  the  valley  in  headlong  haste, 
slaughter  and  rout,  until  the  story  slowly  dies  out  in 
long  strain  of  pursuit  and  plunder. 

Heroism  melts  into  tragic  pathos  in  the  story  of  Jeph- 
thah,  compelled  by  a  rash  vow  to  offer  up  in  sacrifice 
the  daughter  who  has  come  out  leading  the  dance  in 
honour  of  her  father's  victory.  The  opposite  spirit 
underlies  the  stories  of  Samson.  This  Samson  has  the 
vast  strength  and  physical  robustness  that  overflows  in 
humour  and  rough  sport.  And  humour  may  do  the  work 
of  providence:  the  Israelites  are  cowed  before  the 
Philistines,  Samson  delights  to  mock  the  foe  and 
make  them  contemptible.  He  turns  foxes  with  fire- 
brands on  their  tails  into  the  standing  corn;  he  slays  a 
host  with  no  weapon  but  an  ass's  jawbone;  he  loses  a 
wager  to  Philistine  guests,  and  pays  it  in  raiment  of 
other  Philistines  he  slaughters  for  the  purpose;  he  lets 
himself  be  confined  in  Gaza,  and  runs  away  with  the 
city  gates  on  his  back;  he  pretends  he  will  be  helpless 
if  bound  with  new  cords,  or  if  his  locks  be  woven  with 
the  web,  and  at  a  word  the  cords  snap  like  thread,  and 


THE   HISTORY  OF  THE    PEOPLE   <  >i     ISRAEL      51 

his  nod  carries  away  web  and  pin  and  all.  When,  under 
Delilah's  seductions,  Samson  has  revealed  the  true  secret, 
and  been  cast  blind  into  prison,  his  nemesis  takes  the 
form  of  making  sport  for  the  triumphant  Philistines. 
But  at  last  he  makes  sport  in  grim  earnest:  with  a  jest 
on  his  lips  —  of  taking  vengeance  for  at  least  one  of  his 
two  eyes  —  he  bows  the  pillars  in  his  mighty  strain,  and 
buries  with  him  more  foes  than  he  had  slain  in  his  life. 
The  succession  of  hero  stories  has  been  interrupted  by 
a  story  of  a  different  kind,  yet  most  important  for  the 
history  of  the  transition.  It  is  nothing  less  than  the 
appearance  of  a  'king  '  in  Israel.  After  his  great  deliv- 
erance Gideon  was  offered  royalty  for  himself  and  his 
descendants;  but  he  refused,  true  to  the  great  principle 
that  Jehovah  was  Israel's  king.  After  his  death  his 
baseborn  son,  Abimelech,  persuaded  the  men  of  Shechem 
to  crown  him :  he  slew  the  seventy  sons  of  his  father, 
except  one  who  escaped;  and  then,  with  a  rabble  follow- 
ing, marched  on  in  triumph.  At  an  angle  in  the  road 
the  escaped  Jotham  confronted  the  procession,  and  from 
a  safe  height  flung  down  at  them  this  fable,  in  scorn  of 
kingship :  — 

The  trees  went  forth  on  a  time  to  anoint  a  king  over  them, 
and  they  said  unto  the  olive  tree,  Reign  thou  over  us.  But 
the  olive  tree  said  unto  them,  Should  I  leave  my  fatness, 
wherewith  by  me  they  honour  God  and  man,  and  go  to  wave 
to  and  fro  over  the  trees  ?  And  the  trees  said  to  the  fig  tree, 
Come,  thou,  and  reign  over  us.  But  the  fig  tree  said  unto 
them,  Should  I  leave  my  sweetness,  and  my  good  fruit,  and 
go  to  wave  to  and  fro  over  the  trees  ?  And  the  trees  said 
unto  the  vine,  Come,  thou,  and  reign  over  us.  And  the 
vine  said  unto  them,  Should  I  leave  my  wine,  which  cheereth 
God  and   man,  and  go   to  wave  to  and    fro  over  the  trees? 


52  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   STORY 

Then  said  all  the  trees  unto  the  bramble,  Come,  thou,  and 
reign  over  us.  And  the  bramble  said  unto  the  trees,  If  in 
truth  ye  anoint  me  king  over  you,  then  come  and  put  your 
trust  in  my  shadow;  and  if  not,  let  fire  come  out  of  the  bramble 
and  devour  the  cedars  of  Lebanon. 

The  final  word  is  fulfilled :  an  inglorious  reign  of  three 
years  ends  in  feuds,  Abimelech  burns  the  tower  of 
Shechem  over  the  heads  of  his  rebel  subjects,  and  him- 
self meets  death  at  the  hands  of  a  woman. 

It  is  the  darkest  hour  of  disorder  before  the  dawn  of 
firmer  rule  which  is  revealed  in  the  two  stories  of  Micah 
and  of  the  Benjamite  War:  four  times  here  is  repeated 
the  formula,  that  there  was  no  king  in  Israel,  but  every 
man  did  that  which  was  right  in  his  own  eyes.  There 
seems  to  be  a  naive  simplicity  in  the  evil  revealed  by 
the  first  of  these  stories:  the  mother  in  devout  thankful- 
ness that  her  son  has  restored  the  silver  he  had  stolen 
from  her  makes  it  into  graven  images;  Micah  himself 
manages  to  secure  a  wandering  Levite,  and  feels  sure  of 
the  Lord's  favour  because  he  has  a  Levite  as  priest  of  his 
idols;  the  Danites  wandering  to  a  new  settlement  steal 
Micah' s  images,  and  to  the  protesting  Levite  use  the 
convincing  argument  that  it  will  be  better  for  him  to 
be  priest  to  a  tribe  than  to  a  single  man;  finally,  when 
Micah  and  his  neighbours  pursue,  the  Danites  let  their 
numbers  be  seen,  and  considerately  advise  Micah  not 
to  let  his  voice  be  heard,  "lest  angry  fellows  should  fall 
upon  him."  The  other  is  a  story  of  unspeakable  out- 
rage, bloody  revenge,  treacherous  betrayal  of  women. 
Yet,  if  this  suggests  much  as  to  the  helplessness  of 
woman  in  an  age  of  lawlessness,  it  must  be  remembered 
that  to  about  the  same  period,  and  to  no  very  distant 


THE   HISTORY  OF  THE   PEOPLE  OF   ISRAEL      53 

locality,  belongs  the  exquisite  idyl  of  Ruth  —  the  rustic 
peace  of  Bethlehem,  the  friendship  of  two  women,  and 
generous  love  of  Boaz,  which  introduced  a  Moabitess 
into  the  ancestry  of  Israel's  kings. 

The  rise  of  order  out  of  chaos  associates  itself  with 
the  name  of  Samuel.  Every  child  knows  the  stories  of 
Samuel's  birth  and  boyhood:  how  the  mother,  long 
childless,  vows  her  babe  to  the  Lord's  service,  how  she 
fulfils  her  vow,  and  watches  over  her  child  from  a  dis- 
tance, bringing  every  year  the  little  robe;  how  while  yet 
a  youth  Samuel  hears  the  Divine  call  he  does  not  under- 
stand, and  unwillingly  bears  to  the  aged  Eli  the  tidings 
of  his  doom.  "The  word  of  the  Lord  was  precious  in 
those  days;  there  was  no  open  vision."  "The  Lord 
appeared  again  in  Shiloh  .  .  .  and  the  word  of  Samuel 
came  to  all  Israel."  This  is  nothing  less  than  the  rise 
of  prophecy :  single  prophets  have  at  times  appeared,  but 
from  Samuel  there  is  an  unbroken  order  of  prophets  to 
the  end  of  Israel's  national  existence.  And  Samuel's 
first  act, when  fully  established,  is  to  renew  once  more  at 
Mizpah  the  covenant  between  God  and  Israel.  But  with 
the  rise  of  prophecy  we  have  the  growing  demand  for 
kingship.  All  through  the  transition  there  have  been 
Teachings  after  national  unity:  in  the  temporary  sway 
of  judges;  in  the  abortive  kingship  of  Abimelech;  in 
the  idea  that  the  authority  of  a  judge  might  be  heredi- 
tary, frustrated  by  the  wickedness  of  Eli's  sons;  in  the 
attempt  of  Samuel  himself  to  make  his  sons  judges, 
failing  likewise  by  their  unworthiness;  Shiloh  also, 
with  its  ark,  seems  to  be  accepted  as  a  symbol  of 
national  unity,  and  hence  the  importance  attached  to 
the  circumstance  of  the  ark  falling  into  the  hands  of  the 


54  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   STORY 

Philistines,  and  the  stories  of  the  wonders  that  attend 
its  presence  until  it  is  recovered.  At  last  the  people 
insist  upon  a  king  to  lead  them  to  battle  like  the  nations 
around;  however  unwilling,  Samuel  is  commanded  to 
give  way:  "They  have  not  rejected  thee,  but  they  have 
rejected  me."  At  first  it  is  a  kingship  under  prophetic 
control :  Samuel  anoints  Saul,  and  writes  in  a  book  the 
manner  of  the  kingdom.  But  between  the  kingship 
imitated  from  the  nations  and  the  prophetic  order 
inspired  directly  by  God  there  is  irreconcilable  antipa- 
thy. There  is  more  than  a  momentary  meaning  in  the 
proverb,  "Is  Saul  also  among  the  prophets?" 

In  realistic  detail  is  described  the  anointing  of  Saul. 
Then  more  historic  narrative  follows  the  early  part  of 
the  reign,  and  the  success  of  the  kingly  office  in  organ- 
ising resistance  to  the  Philistines.  To  this  war  belongs 
the  story  of  the  Raid  on  Michmash :  Jonathan  and  his 
armour-bearer  single-handed  take  a  garrison,  and  them- 
selves barely  escape  execution  in  consequence  of  Saul's 
rash  vow.  Even  here  the  hasty  sacrifice  of  Saul  pro- 
duces a  breach  between  prophet  and  king.  The  breach 
becomes  final  in  the  Amalekite  war,  when  Agag  with  the 
chief  of  the  devoted  spoil  is  spared;  Samuel  sternly 
slays  Agag,  and  with  the  sign  of  the  rent  robe 
pronounces  the  kingdom  rent  from  Saul.  David  is 
anointed :  the  presence  side  by  side  of  the  future 
dynasty  and  the  dynasty  already  rejected  affords  the 
materials  of  a  long  feud,  with  which  the  history  of  the 
transition  is  brought  to  a  conclusion. 

The  spirit  which  has  been  prominent  throughout  this 
portion  of  the  history  of  Israel  culminates  in  the  long- 
drawn  story  of   adventures  in    the  Feud  of   Saul   and 


THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL       55 

David.     Throughout  the  whole  runs  like  a  refrain  the 

verse :  — 

Saul  has  slain  his  thousands, 
And  David  his  ten  thousands. 

All  else  makes  a  background  against  which  stand  out 
three  striking  figures:  Saul,  of  the  mighty  spear,  proto- 
type of  the  men-at-arms  and  cavalry  of  the  future;  Jona- 
than the  archer,  patron  of  Israel's  infantry;  David,  who 
works  his  feats  with  a  sling  from  a  distance,  prototype 
of  the  artillery  of  the  future  :  Saul,  raised  to  an  eminence 
by  a  power  which  has  cast  him  off,  seeing  his  servants 
and  very  children  drawn  away  to  his  rival,  falling  under 
the  domination  of  a  spirit  of  evil,  knowing  his  doom, 
yet  a  warrior  to  the  last;  David,  type  of  the  coming  age, 
with  winning  grace  and  artistic  genius,  a  hero  in  the 
field,  yet  with  power  to  direct  and  govern;  Jonathan, 
natural  inheritor  of  his  father's  feud,  yet  knit  to  the 
man  that  must  supplant  him,  until  he  loves  him  as  his 
own  soul,  and  the  names  of  the  two  are  forever  linked 
in  the  most  sacred  of  human  friendships.  It  is  a  story 
of  rapid  movement.  Now  David  is  in  the  midst  of 
palace  scenes  and  bursts  of  royal  frenzy;  now  he  is 
secretly  communing  with  Jonathan  in  the  field;  now  he 
is  captain  of  a  band  of  the  discontented  in  the  wilder- 
ness; now  he  is  a  bulwark  to  flocks  and  herds  of  pas- 
toral Israel,  and  wins  the  beautiful  and  prudent  wife  of 
the  churlish  Nabal;  now  he  is  fleeing  with  his  followers 
through  caves  and  woods;  twice  he  has  his  enemy  in  his 
grasp,  and  twice  his  reverence  for  the  person  of  the 
Lord's  Anointed  shames  Saul  into  softer  feelings;  he  is 
found  serving  the  king  of  Gath  against  Israel,  until 
memory  of  his  former  prowess  against  them  makes  the 


56  BIBLICAL   HISTORY    AND    STORY 

other  lords  of  the  Philistines  demand  his  dismissal; 
again,  he  has  a  city  of  his  own  to  govern  and  make 
prosperous,  finds  it  looted  in  his  absence  and  takes  bitter 
revenge.  For  Saul  the  approaching  climax  is  darkened 
by  the  visit  to  the  witch  of  Endor;  Samuel  appears  from 
the  grave  in  visible  form  rehearsing  the  melancholy 
doom.  All  the  threads  of  the  story  unite  in  the  Battle 
of  Gilboa,  in  which  Saul  and  Jonathan  fall,  and  the 
messenger  of  their  death  pays  the  penalty  of  boasting, 
slain  by  David  as  self-confessed  slayer  of  the  Lord's 
Anointed.  Then  David  pours  out  his  grief  in  his  lament 
over  Saul  and  Jonathan,  lovely  and  pleasant  in  their 
lives,   and  in  their  death  not  divided. 

I  am  distressed  for  thee,  my  brother  Jonathan, 
Very  pleasant  hast  thou  been  unto  me; 
Thy  love  to  me  was  wonderful, 
Passing  the  love  of  women  ! 

With  this  touching  elegy  the  heroic  story  of  Scripture 
comes  to  a  close :  we  pass  into  a  different  spirit  of 
history. 

The  Kings  and  Prophets 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  explain  that  I  am  not,  in  these 
few  pages,  attempting  to  write  the  history  of  Israel,  but 
simply  to  treat  the  national  history  as  part  of  the 
national  literature;  to  indicate  threads  of  connection, 
which  may  assist  in  keeping  clear  the  philosophy  of 
Israel's  history  as  it  presents  itself  to  the  sacred  writers. 
From  the  point  now  reached  that  history  becomes  more 
complex,  but  does  not  alter  its  essential  character. 
Three  considerations  should  be  borne  in  mind.  Israel 
has   become    a   monarchy,    with    principles   of    natural 


THE    HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE  OF   ISRAEL      57 

descent  and  all  the  apparatus  of  secular  kingship.  But 
at  the  same  time  there  never  fails  an  order  of  prophets, 
whose  divine  commission  manifests  itself  in  their  ap- 
peal to  the  consciences  of  their  hearers:  these  prophets 
stand  for  the  ideas  of  the  old  theocracy.  Again,  it  must 
be  remembered  that  the  books  now  under  consideration 
come  from  the  side  of  this  prophetic  opposition.  In 
form  they  follow  the  reigns  of  the  kings  ;  when  there 
are  two  kingdoms  they  endeavour,  as  far  as  chronology 
permits,  to  keep  the  reigns  of  Israel  and  Judah  side  by 
side;  yet,  in  fact,  the  secular  matter  is  despatched  with 
the  utmost  brevity,  or  we  are  referred  to  other  histories, 
but  where  the  mission  of  prophecy  is  affected  we  get 
minute  and  vivid  detail.  Accordingly,  in  the  third 
place,  that  which  has  distinguished  the  literary  character 
of  the  history  all  through  —  the  use  of  story  to  empha- 
sise history — adapts  itself  to  the  new  conditions:  we 
get  annals  of  the  kings  combined  with  stories  of  the 
prophets. 

At  the  outset  prophecy  may  well  be  in  abeyance,  for 
the  kingly  and  prophetic  spirit  have  united  in  the  man 
after  God's  own  heart.  The  account  of  David's  reign 
falls  into  two  very  different  parts.  One  deals,  in  more 
or  less  compressed  narrative,  with  national  events :  the 
long-continued  conflict  between  the  house  of  Saul  and 
the  house  of  David,  under  their  military  champions  Abner 
and  Joab ;  the  wars  by  which  David  enlarged  and  con- 
solidated the  kingdom ;  the  great  feat  of  arms  by  which 
the  impregnable  Jerusalem  was  captured  from  the  Jebu- 
sites,  and  solemnly  inaugurated  as  a  sacred  metropolis ; 
the  planning  of  a  grand  temple  which  David  himself 
was  never  to  see  ;    the  mysterious  sin  of  numbering  the 


58  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND    STORY 

people,  and  its  strange  expiation  under  the  prophetic 
ministry  of  Gad.  Even  here  the  literary  character  of 
the  history  is  made  evident  by  the  prominence  it  gives 
to  poetical  compositions  of  the  royal  psalmist.  David 
idealises  in  a  single  magnificent  Song  of  Victory  the 
deliverances  of  a  lifetime. 

The  waves  of  death  compassed  me, 

The  floods  of  ungodliness  made  me  afraid. 
The  cords  of  Sheol  were  round  about  me : 

The  snares  of  death  came  upon  me. 
In  my  distress  I  called  upon  the  Lord, 

Yea,  I  called  unto  my  God : 
And  he  heard  my  voice  out  of  his  temple, 

And  my  cry  came  into  his  ears. 

All  nature  is  suddenly  convulsed  as  Jehovah  descends  to 
the  rescue,  amid  bowing  heavens  and  shaking  earth, 
shrouded  in  thickest  darkness,  while  arrows  of  sharp 
lightnings  prepare  the  way.  And  in  the  rescue  of  the 
righteous  man  the  cause  of  right  itself  has  triumphed  :  — 

With  the  merciful  thou  wilt  show  thyself  merciful, 
With  the  perfect  man  thou  wilt  show  thyself  perfect, 

With  the  pure  thou  wilt  show  thyself  pure, 

And  with  the  perverse  thou  wilt  show  thyself  froward. 

Once  more,  we  have  David's  Last  Words,  breathing  the 
spirit  of  rest  after  an  accomplished  ideal  of  the  righteous 
ruler  :  — 

He  shall  be  as  the  light  of  the  morning,  when  the  sun  riseth, 

A  morning  without  clouds; 
When  the  tender  grass  springeth  out  of  the  earth, 

Through  the  clear  shining  after  rain. 

Very  different  is   the   other  phase  of  David's   reign  : 
the  great  personal  sin  of  the  ruler  after  God's  heart,  and 


THE    HISTORY    <  >F   THE    PEOPLE   OF    ISRAEL       59 

its  rebuke  by  Nathan's  parable  of  the  ewe  lamb.  The 
prophetic  word  is  spoken  :  The  sword  shall  not  depart 
from  thy  house.  Accordingly  it  is  prophecy,  not  history, 
that  we  are  reading,  as  we  follow  the  expanded  narrative 
of  the  Feud  between  David's  Children  :  the  banishment 
of  Absalom,  and  the  masterful  conduct  by  which  he  pro- 
cures his  return  and  fresh  opportunities  of  mischief;  the 
great  revolt ;  the  long-drawn  humiliation  of  the  flight 
from  Jerusalem  ;  the  coarse  triumph  and  divided  counsels 
of  the  usurper ;  the  blunt  statesmanship  with  which  Joab 
brings  the  king  back  to  power,  all  the  while  that  David 
himself  is  prostrated  by  his  recognition  of  the  Divine 
hand  in  all  that  happens,  and  his  ineradicable  tenderness 
for  the  fairest  as  well  as  most  wicked  of  his  sons.  Even 
when  David  is  back  at  Jerusalem  the  domestic  troubles 
do  not  end ;  in  his  last  moments  the  feud  breaks  out 
afresh  in  the  disputed  succession,  and  Nathan  appears 
for  the  last  time  to  use  the  prophetic  influence  on  the 
side  of  Solomon. 

There  is  a  return  to  plain  history  in  the  brief  and  com- 
pressed narrative  in  which  is  presented  the  political  side 
of  the  reign  of  Solomon.  The  kingdom  received  from 
David  is  extended  to  what  may  well  be  called  an  empire, 
and  Solomon  reigns  "  over  all  the  kingdoms  from  the 
River  unto  the  land  of  the  Philistines,  and  unto  the 
border  of  Egypt."  Foreign  alliances  with  Egypt  and 
Tyre  bring  Israel  into  the  circle  of  great  states.  Com- 
mercial wealth  flows  in,  and  brings  splendour  of  external 
life ;  Solomon  makes  silver  to  be  in  Jerusalem  as  stones, 
and  cedars  as  lowland  sycamore  trees  in  abundance. 
At  this  one  point  in  the  sacred  history  it  would  appear 
as  if  the  place  of  prophecy  were  taken  by  another  form 


60  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   STORY 

of  spiritual  energy  —  wisdom.  In  his  prayer  at  Gibeon 
Solomon  makes  wisdom  the  great  desire  of  his  life,  and 
he  is  exalted  to  be  to  the  philosophy  of  Israel  what  his 
father  had  been  to  its  poetry.  The  gathering  literature 
of  proverbs  centres  around  his  name,  exchange  of  wis- 
dom takes  place  between  Solomon  and  Hiram  of  Tyre, 
and  the  Queen  of  distant  Sheba  makes  a  pilgrimage  to 
admire  the  wisest  of  kings.  It  would  seem  from  the  tone 
of  the  narrative  as  if  the  conception  of  '  wisdom '  were 
here  extended  to  take  in  the  achievement  of  Solomon 
in  the  sacred  arts  :  he  erects  the  magnificent  Temple, 
and  in  impressive  dedicatory  prayer  makes  it  the  centre 
of  national  religion,  to  which  under  all  circumstances 
Israel  might  turn  in  penitence  or  supplication.  At  length, 
however,  Solomon,  like  his  father,  yields  to  feminine 
influence ;  his  foreign  wives  corrupt  the  religion  of 
Israel  with  heathen  rites.  At  once  prophecy  comes  to 
the  front,  and  Ahijah  throws  his  influence  on  the  side 
of  the  Jeroboam  who,  amid  numerous  other  adversaries, 
is  the  centre  of  revolt.  Solomon  himself  dies  in  peace ; 
but  when  his  son  Rehoboam,  with  the  reverse  of  his  father's 
wisdom,  takes  the  counsel  of  the  younger  men,  and  will 
make  hi.;  little  finger  thicker  than  his  father's  loins,  the 
cry  is  heard,  "To  your  tents,  O  Israel."  Jeroboam, 
backed  by  the  influence  of  the  prophets,  rends  ten  tribes 
from  the  house  of  David. 

The  history  which  our  literature  is  to  present  is  increas- 
ing in  its  complexity  :  henceforward  two  distinct  king- 
doms are  to  be  balanced  side  by  side  in  the  sacred 
narrative.  By  an  incident  that  shortly  follows,  the  com- 
plexity becomes  greater  still.  The  first  act  of  Jeroboam 
is  to  set  up  golden  calves  to  represent  the  gods  of  Israel, 


THE   HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE   OF    ISRAEL      61 

and  Bethel  and  Dan  as  rivals  to  Jerusalem  ;  at  once  he 
becomes,  for  the  whole  course  of  prophetic  history,  the 
"  Jeroboam  who  made  Israel  to  sin."  At  this  point  is 
found  a  prophetic  story,  strange  in  its  details,  but  most 
important  for  its  bearing  on  the  spirit  of  the  historic 
books.  A  "  man  of  God  "  out  of  Judah  denounces  the 
idolatrous  rites  of  Jeroboam,  and  is  confirmed  by  the 
rending  of  the  altar  and  withering  of  the  king's  arm. 
Jeroboam  makes  submission  and  is  restored ;  when  he 
offers  hospitality  the  man  of  God  refuses,  being  com- 
manded to  return  without  eating  or  drinking.  But  an 
"  old  prophet  "  of  Bethel  pursues  him,  renews  the  hos- 
pitable offer,  and  is  again  refused. 

And  he  said  unto  him,  I  also  am  a  prophet  as  thou  art;  and 
an  angel  spake  unto  me  by  the  word  of  the  Lord,  saying, 
Bring  him  back  with  thee  into  thine  house,  that  he  may  eat 
bread  and  drink  water.  But  he  lied  unto  him.  So  he  went 
back  with  him,  and  did  eat  bread  in  his  house,  and  drank 
water.  And  it  came  to  pass,  as  they  sat  at  the  table,  that  the 
word  of  the  Lord  came  unto  the  prophet  that  brought  him 
back :  and  he  cried  unto  the  man  of  God  that  came  from 
Judah,  saying,  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  Forasmuch  as  thou  hast 
been  disobedient  unto  the  mouth  of  the  Lord,  and  hast  not 
kept  the  commandment  which  the  Lord  thy  God  commanded 
thee,  but  earnest  back,  and  hast  eaten  bread  and  drunk  water 
in  the  place  of  the  which  he  said  to  thee,  Eat  no  bread,  and 
chink  no  water;  thy  carcase  shall  not  come  unto  the  sepulchre 
of  thy  fathers. 

The  prophecy  is  fulfilled,  and  on  his  way  back  into 
Judah  the  man  of  God  is  slain  by  a  lion.  The  prophet 
of  Bethel  finds  his  dead  body. 

And  he  laic]  his  carcase  in  his  own  grave;   and  they  mourned 
over  him,  saying,  Alas,  my  brother !     And  it  came  to  pass,  after 


62  HIBLICAL   HISTORY    AND    STORY 

he  had  buried  him,  that  he  spake  to  his  suns,  saying,  When 
I  am  dead,  then  bury  me  in  the  sepulchre  wherein  the  man  of 
God  is  buried;    lay  my  bones  beside  his  bones. 

In  this  strange  way  is  brought  home  to  the  reader  the 
fact  that,  not  only  are  the  kingdoms  divided,  but  there 
is  a  schism  in  prophecy  itself;  henceforward  the  false 
prophet  in  conflict  with  the  true  is  an  additional  element 
of  difficulty  in  the  tangled  politics  of  Israel. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  follow  the  bare  records  of  reigns 
which  succeed ;  kings  of  Israel  and  Judah,  with  the 
exception  of  Asa,  are  alike  pronounced  evil.  We  soon 
reach,  amongst  kings  of  Israel,  the  name  of  Ahab,  who 
takes  for  queen  Jezebel  of  the  Zidonians.  Under  her 
influence  has  been  reached  the  nadir  point  of  kingly 
revolt ;  it  is  no  longer  imperfect  service  of  Jehovah  that 
appears,  but  Baal  has  been  enthroned  in  Jehovah's  place. 
At  once  prophecy  springs  to  its  full  height  to  meet  the 
crisis ;  literary  form  catches  the  changed  spirit,  and 
story  dominates  history  as  we  are  abruptly  introduced 
to  the  ministry  of  Elijah. 

With  great  insight  into  the  spirit  of  the  narrative  Men- 
delssohn, in  his  musical  setting  of  Elijah's  career,  has 
violated  conventional  order  by  commencing,  even  before 
his  overture,  with  the  few  words  of  recitative  which  con- 
vey Elijah's  prediction  of  the  three  years'  famine  :  it  is 
against  the  background  of  this  famine  that  the  details  of 
the  crisis  are  presented.  While  brooks  and  rivers  are 
drying  up,  Elijah  is  miraculously  fed  by  ravens  beside 
the  brook  Cherith ;  while  all  around  hunger  and  death 
are  doing  their  work,  the  good  woman  who  shelters  the 
prophet  finds  her  barrel  of  meal  and  cruse  of  oil  mys- 
teriously renewed,  and  her  son  restored  to  life.     When 


THK    HISTORY    OF   THE    PEOPLE  OF   ISRAEL      63 

the  drought  is  at  its  height,  and  the  king  with  his  minis- 
ters are  searching  the  land  for  water,  Elijah  suddenly 
reappears,  and  the  most  dramatic  of  all  Bible  scenes  is 
presented.  Elijah  demands  to  be  confronted  with  the 
prophets  of  Baal ;  Ahab,  always  a  hesitator  between 
Jehovah  and  idols,  dares  not  refuse.  There  is  an  echo 
from  the  renewal  of  the  covenant  under  Joshua  when 
Elijah  demands  of  the  assembled  people,  How  long  halt 
ve  between  two  opinions?  But  the  people  answer  not  a 
word.  In  strange  opposition  the  four  hundred  and  fifty 
prophets  of  Baal  prolong  their  ecstatic  worship  from  morn- 
ing to  noon,  from  noon  to  evening,  amid  the  mockeries  of 
Elijah.  Then  the  prophet  of  the  Lord,  with  his  evening 
prayer,  draws  down  the  fire  from  heaven  which  consumes 
the  sacrifice,  and  licks  up  the  water  in  the  trenches,  while 
all  the  people  shout,  The  Lord,  he  is  God.  The  false 
prophets  are  slain  by  the  brook  Kishon,  and  at  once  there 
is  a  sound  of  abundance  of  rain  ;  Elijah  seems  to  be 
forcing  the  clouds  into  the  sky  by  the  vehemence  of  his 
prayers  on  Carmel,  and  in  the  exultation  of  the  sudden 
relief  joins  the  runners  before  the  chariot  of  Ahab. 

The  prophet  has  triumphed  :  the  man  feels  the  re- 
action of  physical  and  spiritual  depression  as  he  flees 
before  the  threats  of  Jezebel.  His  wanderings  bring 
this  chief  of  the  prophets  nearer  and  nearer  to  the 
scene  of  the  original  giving  of  the  Law.  Moses  had 
fasted  forty  days  and  forty  nights  on  the  mount ;  Elijah, 
in  the  strength  of  angels'  food,  goes  forty  days  to  the 
same  mount,  where  once  the  theocracy  had  been  pro- 
claimed amid  thunder  and  the  great  fire  and  the  sound 
of  a  more  than  human  voice.  And  once  more  nature 
seems  shaken  with  the  approach  of  Deity. 


64  BIBLICAL    HISTORY   AND    STORY 

And,  behold,  the  Lord  passed  by,  and  a  great  and  strong 
wind  rent  the  mountains,  and  brake  in  pieces  the  rocks  before 
the  Lord;  but  the  Lord  was  not  in  the  wind  :  and  after  the 
wind  an  earthquake;  but  the  Lord  was  not  in  the  earthquake  : 
and  after  the  earthquake  a  fire;  but  the  Lord  was  nut  in  the 
fire :  and  after  the  fire  a  still  small  voice. 

Instinctively  a  modern  reader  listens  for  some  deep 
spiritual  truth,  or  some  foundation  principle  of  moral 
law,  as  the  point  to  which  all  this  succession  of  wonders 
has  led  up  :  what  we  actually  hear  is  this  :  — 

Go,  return  on  thy  way  to  the  wilderness  of  Damascus :  and 
when  thou  comest  thou  shalt  anoint  Hazael  to  be  king  over 
Syria :  and  Jehu  the  son  of  Nimshi  shalt  thou  anoint  to  be 
king  over  Israel :  and  Elisha  the  son  of  Shaphat  of  Abel- 
meholah  shalt  thou  anoint  to  be  prophet  in  thy  room.  And  it 
shall  come  to  pass,  that  him  that  escapeth  from  the  sword  of 
Hazael  shall  Jehu  slay  :  and  him  that  escapeth  from  the  sword 
of  Jehu  shall  Elisha  slay.  Yet  will  I  leave  me  seven  thousand 
in  Israel,  all  the  knees  which  have  not  bowed  unto  Baal,  and 
every  mouth  which  hath  not  kissed  him. 

Nothing  could  more  powerfully  illustrate  the  true  position 
of  prophecy.  The  prophets  are  not,  in  the  modern  sense, 
spiritual  pastors  :  they  are  the  statesmen  who  make  their 
stand  for  the  theocracy  in  the  political  history  of  Israel. 
The  joint  ministry  of  Elijah  and  Elisha  is  to  strike  a  unity 
through  all  that  succeeds ;  the  history  of  Israel  to  the 
end  of  the  northern  kingdom  is  no  more  than  the  ex- 
pansion of  the   message  of  Horeb. 

In  that  message  Syria  has  been  indicated  as  the  instru- 
ment of  Divine  vengeance  against  Israel.  What  imme- 
diately follows  l  —  told  with  vivid  detail  because  of  the 
prophetic   personages  involved  —  displays  the   kingdom 

1  /  Kings  xx,  continued  xxii. 


THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL      65 

of  Syria  passing  from  friendship  into  hostility  against 
the  kingdom  of  Israel.  Judah  is  joined  with  Israel,  its 
supple  king  Jehoshaphat  at  once  serving  Jehovah  and 
making  alliance  with  idol-worshippers.  Hence  we  get 
the  strangest  of  all  prophetic  scenes  :  Micaiah  facing  the 
false  prophets  of  Ahab,  and  springing  upon  the  allied 
kings  his  vision  of  the  lying  spirit  -put  by  God  in  the 
mouth  of  Ahab's  prophets  to  lure  him  on  to  his  doom. 
Under  such  gloomy  auspices  is  fought  the  battle  of 
Ramoth-gilead,  in  which  Ahab,  vainly  disguised,  falls  by 
a  bow  drawn  at  a  venture.  It  is  other  prophets  who 
figure  in  these  incidents,  while  Elijah  has  been  continu- 
ing his  first  prophetic  task  of  confronting  Ahab  with  his 
crimes.1  And  he  lives  to  speak  a  word  of  doom  to 
Ahab's  son  and  successor,  a  last  prophecy  drawn  from 
Elijah  amid  scenes  of  lightning  strokes  and  the  destruc- 
tion of  captains  with  their  fifties. 

Three  words  of  command  made  up  the  prophecy  of 
Horeb  :  the  first  to  reach  fulfilment  is  the  mysterious 
succession  of  Elisha  to  the  work  of  Elijah.  The  event  is 
told  of  Elijah's  ascent  to  heaven  :  as  the  fiery  chariots 
disappear  the  mantle  of  Elijah  is  taken  by  Elisha,  sym- 
bol of  the  double  portion  of  his  spirit.  A  long  series  of 
wonder  stories  follow,  the  design  of  which  is  to  vindicate 
Elisha  as  the  successor  of  Elijah.  The  waters  of  Jordan 
divide  at  his  word  ;  the  foul  spring  is  healed  with  salt ; 
the  mocking  children  are  overtaken  by  destruction.  In 
the  next  wonder  once  more  Jehoshaphat  is  seen  in  alliance 
with  Israel  and  demanding  a  prophet  of  the  Lord  :  he  is 
told  of  Elisha,   "  who  poured  water  on   the   hands   of 

1  I  Kitigs  xxi,  continued  II  Kings  i. 


66  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   STORY 

Elijah,"  and  Elisha  foretells  the  miracle  by  which  the 
water  trenches,  filled  by  no  natural  agency,  glow  blood 
red  in  the  rising  sun,  and  drive  the  Moabites  to  panic. 
The  miracles  of  Elijah  are  repeated  for  his  successor,  as 
the  poor  woman's  oil  is  multiplied,  and  the  hospitable 
Shunammite  receives  her  son  back  to  life.  Miraculously 
the  poisoned  mess  is  made  harmless,  the  scanty  bread 
multiplied.  A  little  maiden,  carried  captive  in  the  Syrian 
wars  which  are  all  this  while  raging,  brings  the  captain  of 
Syria's  hosts  to  be  healed  of  his  leprosy  by  Elisha  ;  accord- 
ingly—  after  a  parenthetic  miracle  of  the  axe-head  that 
swam — we  find  Elisha's  power  recognised  in  Samaria 
itself,  and  an  expedition  is  sent  against  him,  only  to 
reveal  to  timid  doubters  the  mountain  full  of  chariots 
and  horsemen  round  about  Elisha.  At  last,  when  the 
siege  of  Samaria  has  reached  the  horror  of  women  de- 
vouring their  own  children,  the  king,  who  witnesses  it, 
exclaims,  "  God  do  so  to  me,  and  more  also,  if  the  head 
of  Elisha  the  son  of  Shaphat  shall  stand  on  him  this 
day  :  "  to  such  a  culmination  has  the  prophetic  power 
of  Elisha  attained  that  he  is  recognised  as  sole  dispenser 
of  doom  to  Israel. 

All  this  while  Elisha  has  remained  quiescent,  the 
authority  of  his  prophetic  office  none  the  less  advanc- 
ing :  he  now  moves  forward  in  the  other  two  mysteries 
revealed  on  Horeb.  Visiting  Damascus  he  is  received 
as  a  prophet ;  he  looks  into  the  face  of  the  Syrian  king's 
messenger  Hazael,  and  weeps  at  the  havoc  he  foresees 
Hazael  will  hereafter  work  upon  Israel.  The  glimpse 
into  the  future  has  fanned  a  smouldering  purpose  :  that 
very  night  Hazael  assassinates  his  master  and  ascends 
the  throne,  divinely  ordained  instrument  of  woe  to  Israel 


THE    HISTORY   OF     I  I  IF.    PEOPLE   OF    [SRAEL      67 

from  without,  as   Jehu  is  to  be  the  instrument  of  ven- 
geance in  their  midst. 

There  remains  the  final  and  climax  stage  in  the  fulfil- 
ment of  the  commission  to  Elijah  and  Elisha  :  prophetic 
story  and  secular  history  become  for  the  time  inextri- 
cably interwoven.  The  scene  changes  to  Jezreel  and 
its  pleasant  palace ;  Joram  of  Israel,  wounded  in  the 
Syrian  wars,  is  being  nursed  there,  and  thither  comes 
Ahaziah  of  Judah  —  successor  to  the  throne  and  alli- 
ance of  Jehoshaphat  —  to  visit  his  ally.  Meanwhile 
among  the  captains  of  Israel  facing  the  enemy  at  Ra- 
moth-gilead  is  Jehu  the  son  of  Nimshi.  An  envoy  of 
Elisha  suddenly  proclaims  Jehu  king,  and  avenger  of  the 
prophets  against  the  house  of  Ahab.  The  word  is  caught 
up  by  eager  fellow-captains  ;  Jehu  is  hastily  enthroned 
on  heaped-up  garments,  and  proclaimed  king  with  the 
sound  of  trumpet.  The  "furious  driving"  of  Jehu  from 
Ramoth-gilead  to  Jezreel  is  a  fitting  symbol  of  the  breath- 
less succession  of  events  with  which  this  climax  works 
itself  out.  King  Joram  is  smitten  between  the  arms  the 
instant  he  sees  the  treachery  and  turns  to  flee.  Aha- 
ziah has  a  moment's  warning,  but  escapes  only  to  be  slain 
in  his  flight.  Jezebel  is  defiant  to  the  last :  she  is  hurled 
down  from  the  window,  and  dogs  devour  her  flesh.  A 
mocking  challenge  is  sent  to  the  protectors  of  Ahab's 
sons  in  Samaria  :  bewildered  and  helpless  they  think  it 
best  to  submit,  and  send  the  heads  of  Ahab's  seventy- 
sons  in  baskets,  thus  enabling  Jehu  to  point  to  the 
ghastly  sight  as  a  proof  that  providence,  not  himself,  is 
working  the  doom  of  Ahab's  house.  Next,  accident 
plays  its  part  :  the  brethren  of  Ahaziah  (descendants 
therefore    of  Ahab)   are  coming    from    Judah  to    salute 


68  BIBLICAL    HISTORY   AND   STORY 

their  kindred  :  they  are  taken  alive  and  slain  at  the  pit 
of  the  shearing  house.  With  intrigue  and  feigned  zeal 
for  Baal  Jehu  draws  the  idolatrous  priests  into  their  tem- 
ple at  Samaria,  in  order  to  slay  all  at  a  stroke  and  make 
the  house  of  Baal  a  draught-house.  In  only  one  point 
has  the  work  of  vengeance  remained  imperfect :  Atha- 
liah,  daughter  of  Ahab  and  queen-mother  in  Judah,  has 
set  up  Baal  worship  in  Jerusalem  itself;  in  a  later  sec- 
tion is  narrated  the  revolution  of  Jehoiada,  the  priests 
crowning  the  youthful  Joash,  while  Athaliah  is  slain,  and 
the  idolatrous  worship  purged  from  the  land. 

The  last  stage  has  been  reached  in  the  career  of  the 
northern  kingdom.  Where  the  narrative  turns  to  Judah 
we  do  hear  of  righteous  rulers  to  balance  the  wicked 
and  the  wavering ;  but  for  the  kingdom  of  Israel  history 
becomes  a  prophetic  moralising  upon  a  people's  ruin. 
Jehu  himself,  his  work  of  righteous  vengeance  accom- 
plished, returns  to  his  native  sinfulness.  At  once  Hazael, 
king  of  Syria,  begins  to  cut  Israel  short ;  he  and  his  suc- 
cessors fulfil  all  the  prophecy  of  Horeb  in  afflicting 
Israel  from  the  outside.  There  is  indeed  a  partial 
recovery,  and  a  second  Jeroboam,  under  the  prophetic 
ministry  of  Jonah,  restores  the  border  of  Israel.  But  this 
is  a  last  flicker  of  prosperity ;  faction  and  feud  with 
neighbour  peoples  prepare  the  northern  kingdom  for  a 
mightier  foe.  At  last  the  Assyrians  appear  upon  the 
scene  ;  vainly  met  for  a  time  by  bribes,  the  tide  of  inva- 
sion returns  resistless.  The  end  is  reached,  and  the  ten 
tribes  are  carried  into  captivity ;  while  in  their  place  are 
established  the  mixed  peoples  who  seek  to  fear  Jehovah 
and  at  the  same  time  serve  their  graven  images,  and  so 
grow  into  the  hated  Samaritans  of  a  later  age. 


THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL      69 

The  sacred  history  returns  to  simplicity  where  there  is 
only  the  kingdom  of  Judah  to  be  considered.  Hezekiah 
brings  back  the  zeal  of  David,  and  David's  prosper- 
ity ;  his  are  the  glorious  days  of  Isaiah's  prophecy,  and 
the  ominous  Assyrian  invasion  is  met  by  the  wonderful 
overthrow  of  the  hosts  of  Sennacherib.  But  the  son 
more  than  undoes  the  work  of  the  father ;  Manasseh 
seduces  Judah  to  do  evil  more  than  the  nations  whom 
the  Lord  destroyed  before  the  children  of  Israel,  and  the 
voice  of  prophecy  declares  how  God  "  will  stretch  over 
Jerusalem  the  line  of  Samaria  and  the  plummet  of  the 
house  of  Ahab."  For  a  brief  space  brightness  reappears 
with  Josiah.  The  sudden  discovery  in  his  reign  of  the 
"  Book  of  the  Law"  causes  a  wave  of  religious  revival  to 
spread  over  the  whole  people  ;  idolatry  is  purged  out  of 
the  land  for  a  time,-  and  even  the  altar  of  Jeroboam  at 
Bethel  is  overthrown.  But  the  reformation  of  Josiah 
is  to  be  considered,  not  an  arrest  in  the  downfall  of  the 
kings,  but  an  anticipation  of  a  future  period ;  here  we 
have,  not  prophets  standing  for  righteous  statesman- 
ship in  national  politics,  but  the  discovery,  in  the  Law,  of 
a  rallying  point  for  the  pious  when  Israel  shall  have 
ceased  to  be  a  nation.  Accordingly,  from  the  days  of 
Josiah  there  is  but  the  brief  history  of  Judah's  fall. 
What  the  Assyrians  were  for  the  northern  kingdom, 
Nebuchadnezzar  and  his  Chaldeans  are  for  the  kingdom 
of  the  south.  At  last  Jerusalem  itself  suffers  the  horrors 
of  a  siege  ;  it  falls,  and  Judah  follows  Israel  into  captivity. 
The  kingship  has  ceased  to  be ;  and  the  ministry  of 
prophets  is  no  longer  the  instrument  through  which  the 
chosen  nation  will  express  its  adherence  to  its  God. 


70  BIBLICAL    HISTORY   AND    STORY 

Stories  of  the  Exile 

The  history  of  Israel  is  in  the  position  of  a  river  which 
runs  for  a  time  underground  before  it  returns  to  view. 
There  is  no  Bible  narrative  of  the  exile  :  we  know  indi- 
rectly that  the  captivity  continues  for  some  seventy  years 
without  break  ;  also,  that  in  the  interval  the  Babylonian 
conquerors  are  themselves  conquered,  and  their  domin- 
ions pass  into  the  hands  of  the  Medes  and  Persians. 
But  here  again  appears  the  importance  of  story  as  an 
adjunct  to  history  :  the  seven  stories  of  the  exile  cast 
their  brilliant  light  upon  successive  points  in  the  life  of 
the  captivity.  Nowhere  is  the  charm  of  story  greater 
than  in  the  books  of  Daniel  and.  of  Esther ;  and  through 
these  impressive  narratives  we  are  able  to  see  how  even  in 
their  exile  the  chosen  people  continue  to  witness  for  their 
God  among  the  nations. 

The  distinction  of  Babylon  among  the  peoples  is  that 
it  is  the  land  of  mystery ;  the  chief  feature  of  its  court  is 
the  band  of  astrologers,  magicians,  enchanters  surround- 
ing the  throne,  and  so  supreme  is  the  national  interest  in 
this  mystic  unveiling  of  the  future  that  the  name  '  Chal- 
dean '  is  synonymous  with  '  soothsayer.'  The  first  of  the 
stories  presents  four  youthful  captives  of  Judah  —  Daniel 
and  his  three  companions  —  who  are  to  undergo  a  three 
years'  course  of  royal  diet  and  training  in  the  learning  of 
the  Chaldeans,  until  they  are  fit  to  join  the  band  of  the 
king's  enchanters.  But  diet  is  a  part  of  Israel's  law  ; 
and  Daniel  purposes  in  his  heart  that  he  will  not  defile 
himself  with  the  king's  meat.  He  challenges  for  himself 
and  his  companions  the  test  of  experience ;  at  the  end 
of  the  period  of  training  not  only  are  the  youths  of  Judah 


THE    HISTORY    OF  THE   PEOPLE  OF   ISRAEL      71 

the  fairest  to  look  upon,  but  the  king  when  he  makes  his 
examination  finds  them  "  ten  times  better  than  all  the 
magicians  and  enchanters  that  were  in  all  his  realm." 
Thus  the  law  of  Israel  has  won  a  triumph  over  the  regi- 
men of  Babylon. 

While  the  period  of  training,  apparently,  is  still  in 
progress,  a  sudden  outburst  of  royal  panic  dooms  the 
whole  body  of  wise  men  to  destruction,  because  they  fail, 
not  to  interpret  a  dream  of  the  king's,  but  to  tell  the 
dream  itself  which  has  been  forgotten.  Daniel  inter- 
poses to  save  them,  believing  that  by  prayer  even  this 
impossibility  may  be  accomplished.  He  stands  before 
the  court  of  Babylon  to  testify  that  "  there  is  a  God  in 
heaven  that  revealeth  secrets."  Impressively  he  makes 
known  the  thoughts  that  have  passed  from  the  king's 
heart,  and  the  far  future  which  they  portend  :  the  image 
with  head  all  of  gold,  suggesting  the  flawless  glory  of 
Nebuchadnezzar ;  the  inferior  kingdoms  that  shall  suc- 
ceed, symbolised  by  the  silver,  brass,  iron,  and  clay ; 
above  all,  the  stone  cut  out  without  hands  smiting  the 
image  to  pieces  and  becoming  a  mountain,  by  which  is 
made  known  a  kingdom  which  shall  never  be  destroyed, 
but  shall  break  in  pieces  and  consume  all  other  king- 
doms. Amid  oblations  and  incense  Daniel's  God  is 
acknowledged,  and  the  Judean  captive  himself  is  made 
chief  governor  over  all  the  wise  men  of  Babylon. 

In  the  intoxication  of  that  glory  which  this  dream  had 
symbolised  Nebuchadnezzar  erects  an  image  of  himself 
on  the  plain  of  Dura,  and  all  rulers  of  all  his  provinces 
must  at  its  dedication  bow  down  and  worship  to  the  strains 
of  harmonious  instruments.  The  three  companions  of 
Daniel  alone  refuse  :    they  stand  firm  before  the  king's 


72  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND    STORY 

wrath,  and  his  threat,  "  Who  is  that  god  that  shall  deliver 
you  out  of  my  hands?"  They  are  cast  bound  into  the 
burning  fiery  furnace,  heated  seven  times  beyond  its 
wonted  heat.  The  unique  word  '  astonied '  expresses 
the  emotion  of  the  tyrant  as  he  beholds  them  walking 
free  in  the  midst  ©f  the  fire,  and  in  their  company  a 
mystic  fourth ;  they  come  out  from  the  furnace  un- 
harmed, nor  has  the  smell  of  fire  passed  on  them.  The 
omnipotent  king  makes  a  decree  that  every  people, 
nation,  and  language  which  speak  against  the  God  of 
Shadrach,  Meshach,  and  Abed-nego  shall  be  destroyed  : 
"  because  there  is  no  other  god  that  is  able  to  deliver 
after  this  sort." 

The  fourth  story  is  in  form  a  royal  decree ;  in  this 
solemn  manner  does  Nebuchadnezzar  relate,  for  the 
information  of  all  the  peoples,  nations,  and  languages 
that  dwell  in  all  the  earth,  the  wonderful  incident  of  a 
dream  of  his  interpreted  by  Daniel,  and  the  still  more 
wonderful  dispensation  of  heaven  by  which  the  dream 
has  been  fulfilled.  It  was  a  dream  of  a  fair  and  towering 
tree  cut  down,  and  its  stump  left  in  the  earth  with  a  band 
of  iron  and  brass,  until  a  mystic  period  had  passed  over 
it.  So,  at  the  very  moment  when  Nebuchadnezzar  was 
contemplating  Babylon  as  the  city  built  by  his  might  and 
for  his  glory,  the  word  had  gone  forth ;  and  he  had  been 
driven  from  men,  and  his  dwelling  had  been  with  the 
beasts  of  the  field,  he  had  eaten  grass  like  oxen,  and  his 
body  had  been  wet  with  the  dew  of  heaven  ;  until  as  he 
lifted  up  his  eyes  unto  heaven  his  understanding  returned 
unto  him,  and  his  majesty  and  brightness  was  restored. 
He  blessed  therefore  the  Most  High,  whose  dominion  is 
an  everlasting  dominion ;  all  the  inhabitants  of  earth  are 


THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   PEOPLE   OF    ISRAEL       73 

reputed  as  nothing;  none  can  stay  his  hand,  or  say  unto 
him,  What  doest  thou  ? 

Nebuchadnezzar  has  been  succeeded  by  his  son  Bel- 
shazzar,  and  Daniel  has  been  almost  forgotten.  The 
dynasty  has  reached  the  last  day  of  its  allotted  existence, 
and  the  last  orgy  of  the  king  and  his  companions  is 
running  riot,  with  the  sacred  vessels  of  Jehovah  among 
the  drinking  cups  of  the  dissolute  host.  Suddenly  a 
mystic  hand  is  beheld  writing  upon  the  wall,  and  the 
trembling  enchanters  strive  in  vain  to  decipher  the  doom  : 
only  the  queen  remembers  the  wise  counsellor  of  the  late 
reign.  Daniel  stands  once  more  before  the  court  of 
Babylon,  to  recite  the  forgotten  lesson  of  Nebuchadnez- 
zar's fall  and  restoration,  and  to  read  the  mystic  words 
numbered,  weighed,  divided.  That  very  night  the  con- 
quering Medes  burst  in  upon  the  Chaldeans ;  and  the 
one  crisis  of  world  history  that  happens  during  the  cap- 
tivity is  seen  to  be  the  work  of  Israel's  God. 

Captive  Israel  in  now  under  the  strangest  form  of  rule 
ever  devised  by  man  —  absolutism  limited  only  by  its 
own  absoluteness  :  a  kingship  that  may  decree  what  it 
will,  yet  is  limited  by  its  own  decree,  for  "  the  law  of  the 
Medes  and  Persians  altereth  not."  Under  Darius  Daniel 
is  a  prime  favourite ;  envy  sees  that  he  can  be  assailed 
only  through  his  fidelity  to  his  national  faith.  Accordingly 
a  decree  is  procured  from  the  unthinking  despot,  that  for 
thirty  days  no  prayer  shall  be  offered  to  any  god  but 
himself.  Daniel  remains  unchanged  in  his  devotions  and 
is  denounced  :  the  king  labours  all  day  to  deliver  him, 
but  is  confronted  by  the  "  law  of  the  Medes  and  Persians 
which  altereth  not."  In  sore  distress  Darius  must  at  last 
order  that  Daniel  be  cast  into  the  den  of  lions,  not  with- 


74  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND    STORY 

out  hope  that  even  here  he  may  find  protection.  When 
the  morrow  reveals  the  wonder  of  the  lions'  mouths  shut 
by  angelic  power,  Darius  breaks  out  with  a  decree  to  all 
peoples,  nations,  and  languages,  that  all  shall  tremble  and 
fear  before  the  God  of  Israel ;  his  is  the  kingdom  that 
shall  not  be  destroyed,  and  his  dominion  shall  be  even 
unto  the  end. 

There  remains  one  more,  the  most  elaborate  of  all 
scriptural  stories.  The  hatred  of  neighbour  peoples, 
which  had  troubled  Israel  through  its  whole  career,  pur- 
sues the  exiles  in  captivity,  and  at  one  moment  an 
Amalekite,  Hainan,  becomes  the  minister  and  favourite 
of  King  Ahasuerus.  Out  of  all  the  hundred  and  twenty- 
seven  provinces  of  the  empire  a  single  man  refuses  to 
bow  the  knee  before  the  favourite.  When  Hainan  learns 
that  this  Mordecai  is  a  Jew,  he  prepares  a  mighty 
revenge.  The  lot  is  solemnly  cast  in  his  presence  to 
select  a  day  of  doom,  and  then  Hainan  procures  a  decree 
from  the  king  that  on  that  day  the  Jews  shall  be  extir- 
pated from  all  the  provinces  of  the  vast  empire.  He 
knows  not  how  Providence  has  been  working  beforehand 
to  prepare  for  this  crisis,  in  elevating  a  Jewish  maiden, 
Esther,  to  the  throne ;  she  now  stands  forth  to  deliver 
her  people.  A  girl  in  years,  she  works  salvation  in  a 
girlish  manner.  Taking  her  life  in  her  hand,  she  pre- 
sents herself  unsummoned  before  the  king.  When  he 
holds  out  the  sceptre  of  mercy  Esther,  with  youthful  sim- 
plicity, petitions  that  the  king  and  Hainan  will  come  to 
a  banquet  which  she  will  prepare.  The  flattery  lulls  all 
suspicions  of  Haman;  and  the  king,  accustomed  only  to 
the  voluptuous  orgies  of  a  harem,  tastes  for  a  moment 
the  sweets  of  domestic  bliss.     Twice  in  this  way  Esther 


THE    HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE  OF   ISRAEL       75 

faces  her  king  and  her  foe  ;  then,  casting  off  the  veil,  she 
denounces  the  plot  by  which  her  own  kindred  are  to 
be  slain,  and  the  king's  empire  deprived  of  a  serviceable 
people.  Hainan  is  hanged  upon  the  gallows  he  had  pre- 
pared for  Mordecai ;  yet  there  still  remains  the  fatal 
decree,  enrolled  in  the  laws  of  Medes  and  Persians 
which  alter  not.  But  Mordecai  succeeds  to  his  rival's 
place,  and  devises  the  counter  decree  by  which  the  Jews 
have  leave  to  defend  themselves.  Hence  when  the 
allotted  day  arrives  the  blow  intended  for  the  chosen 
nation  falls  upon  their  foes.  And  from  the  midst  of  the 
captivity  comes  the  Jewish  feast  "  of  Lots,"  in  honour 
of  a  deliverance  wrought  for  them  by  God  amid  their 
troubles,  and  brought  about  through  the  unbending 
fidelity  of  Mordecai  and  the  youthful  beauty  of  Esther. 

Chronicles  of  the  Return  and  the  Jewish   Chu?'ch 

When  the  historical  literature  of  Scripture  is  resumed 
after  the  exile  a  marked  change  is  seen,  both  in  its  spirit 
and  its  form.  It  was  a  nation  that  had  been  carried  into 
captivity ;  it  is  no  longer  a  nation  that  returns.  To 
great  part  of  the  hosts  of  Israel,  borne  away  from  the 
northern  and  the  southern  kingdoms,  no  release  from 
their  captivity  was  ever  granted ;  they  became  merged 
in  the  national  life  of  the  east.  When  the  proclamation 
of  Cyrus  granted  permission  to  return,  not  all  who  heard 
availed  themselves  of  the  invitation  ;  it  is  said  that  there 
"  rose  up  the  heads  of  fathers'  houses  of  Judah  and 
Benjamin,  and  the  priests,  and  the  Levites,  even  all 
whose  spirit  God  had  stirred  to  go  up  to  build  the  house 
of  the  Lord  which  is  in  Jerusalem."1     It  was  a  spiritual 

1  Ezra  i.  5. 


76  BIBLICAL    HISTORY    AND    STORY 

purpose  that  brought  the  exiles  back,  and  they  proceeded 
to  organise  themselves  as  a  spiritual  community,  around 
the  two  central  ideas  of  a  restored  Temple  service  and 
a  study  of  the  Law  under  leadership  of  scribes.  Thus, 
in  place  of  the  Hebrew  People  we  have  henceforward 
the  Jewish  Church.  The  literary  product  of  the  new 
community  consists  of  the  biblical  books  of  Chronicles, 
Ezra,  Nehemiah.  The  last  two  deal  with  the  return  j 
in  the  Chronicles  all  previous  history  is  retold,  in  a 
spirit  conformable  to  the  new  conception  of  the  relation- 
ship between  God  and  the  remnant  of  his  chosen  people. 
Previous  historians  have  been  prophets,  the  statesmen  of 
Israel  who  sought  to  translate  religious  ideas  into  political 
action ;  their  works  combined  annals  of  secular  events 
with  epic  stories,  of  which  patriarchs,  judges,  prophets, 
were  the  heroes.  In  the  new  history  the  prophets  have 
their  place,  but  not  their  former  prominence.  The  dis- 
tinction between  history  and  story  can  no  longer  be 
made ;  the  whole  becomes  uniform  history,  and,  if  one 
part  be  expanded  in  more  vivid  detail  than  another,  it  is 
because  it  bears  upon  the  new  religious  ideals.  In  a 
word,  we  are  entering  upon  the  Ecclesiastical  History  of 
Israel. 

It  is  interesting  to  compare  the  two  histories  where 
they  touch  common  ground.  The  most  striking  differ- 
ence is  that  the  whole  history  of  northern  Israel,  with  its 
brilliant  prophetic  episodes  of  Elijah  and  Elisha,  entirely 
disappears  from  The  Chronicles;  from  the  moment  of  the 
schism  the  ten  tribes  are  regarded  as  outside  the  pale 
of  the  Jewish  Church.  The  ecclesiastical  history  ignores 
the  sin  of  David,  and  the  long  sequel  of  family  feuds, 
including   the  rebellion  of  Absalom  and   the   disputed 


THE    HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL       77 

succession,  all  of  which,  in  Samuel  and  in  Kings,  had 
covered  half  the  ground  of  David's  reign,  being  there 
regarded  as  fulfilment  of  Nathan's  prophecy  that  the 
sword  should  not  depart  from  David's  house.  The  lyric 
compositions  of  David  quoted  in  Samuel  are  omitted  in 
Chronicles,  though  to  balance  these  the  latter  work,  char- 
acteristically, gives  the  sacred  hymns  of  the  ritual  worship 
which  David  established ;  it  is  equally  characteristic  that 
the  elegy  on  Saul  and  Jonathan  is  in  the  chronicle  his- 
tory replaced  by  a  genealogy  of  Saul's  house.1  On  the 
other  hand,  any  point  that  may  have  a  bearing  on  Temple 
service  is  sure  to  be  expanded  by  the  new  historians  into 
detail.  In  the  incident  of  the  bringing  of  the  ark  to 
Jerusalem,  the  prophetic  history  had  merely  mentioned 
the  death  of  L^zzah  and  the  terror  it  inspired,  whereas 
the  chronicle  account  brings  out  how  this  was  a  judgment 
on  the  neglect  of  levitical  service  for  the  carrying  of  the 
ark,  and  adds  long  lists  of  appointments  made  in  this 
spirit  by  David  for  his  second  attempt  to  escort  the  ark.2 
Similarly,  while  the  account  of  the  building  and  dedica- 
tion of  Solomon's  Temple  is  much  the  same  in  both  works, 
the  chronicle  history  contains  in  addition,  at  great  length, 
David's  preparations  for  the  work  to  be  carried  out  by 
his  son,  and  the  regular  courses  of  priestly  service  which 
he  established.3  In  later  history  it  is  remarkable  that 
Kings  relates  the  reign  of  Manasseh  without  a  hint  of  his 
repentance  ;  Chronicles  adds  the  repentance  and  restora- 
tion of  this  ruler,  in  close  connection  no  doubt  with  the 

1  Compare  //  Samuel  i  with  /  Chronicles  ix.  35. 

2  Compare   //  Samuel  vi.   6-12   with   /   Chronicles    xiii.    1-14   and 
xv,  xvi. 

3  /  Chronicles  xvii,  xxii-xxix. 


78  BIBLICAL   HISTORY    AND    STORY 

good  works  he  accomplished  in  strengthening  the  defen- 
sive power  of  the  holy  city.1 

The  reigns  of  individual  rulers  come  to  have  quite  a 
different  colour  from  the  changed  spirit  of  the  history. 
In  Kings  the  brief  annals  of  Abijam's  reign  leave  no 
impression  but  that  of  war  and  wickedness ;  the  ecclesi- 
astical historian  relates  at  length  this  king's  wars  with 
Israel,  and  presents  him  as  a  hero  of  Judah,  whose 
address  to  the  enemy  deserves  lengthy  citation,  as  em- 
bodying most  powerfully  the  whole  spirit  of  the  books 
of   Chronicles? 

Ye  think  to  withstand  the  kingdom  of  the  Lord  in  the 
hands  of  the  sons  of  David;  and  ye  be  a  great  multitude,  and 
there  are  with  you  the  golden  calves  which  Jeroboam  made 
you  for  gods.  Have  ye  not  driven  out  the  priests  of  the  Lord, 
the  sons  of  Aaron,  and  the  Levites,  and  have  made  you  priests 
after  the  manner  of  the  peoples  of  other  lands?  So  that  who- 
soever cometh  to  consecrate  himself  with  a  young  bullock  and 
seven  rams,  the  same  may  be  a  priest  of  them  that  are  no 
gods?  But  as  for  us,  the  Lord  is  our  God,  and  we  have  not 
forsaken  him;  and  we  have  priests  ministering  unto  the  Lord, 
the  sons  of  Aaron,  and  the  Levites  in  their  work :  and  they 
burn  unto  the  Lord  every  morning  and  every  evening  burnt 
offerings  and  sweet  incense;  the  shewbread  also  set  they  in 
order  upon  the  pure  table;  and  the  candlestick  of  gold  with 
the  lamps  thereof,  to  burn  every  evening :  for  we  keep  the 
charge  of  the  Lord  our  God  ;  but  ye  have  forsaken  him. 
And,  behold,  God  is  with  us  at  our  head,  and  his  priests  with 
the  trumpets  of  alarm  to  sound  an  alarm  against  you.  O  chil- 
dren of  Israel,  fight  ye  not  against  the  Lord,  the  God  of  your 
fathers,  for  ye  shall  not  prosper. 

1  Compare  //  Kings   xxi  and  //  Chronicles  xxxiii. 

2  Compare  /  Kings  xv.  1-9  with  //  Chronicles  xiii.  The  Chronicles 
name  the  king  Abijah. 


THE   HISTORY   "I     ["HE    PEOPLE   OF    ISRAEL      79 

It  is  with  the  same  zeal  to  find  the  new  religious  fer- 
vour in  the  ancient  history  that  the  chronicler  delights  to 
tell  how,  in  the  reign  of  Asa,  the  people  entered  into  a 
covenant  to  seek  the  Lord,  and  "  that  whoever  would 
not  seek  the  Lord,  the  God  of  Israel,  should  be  put  to 
death,  whether  small  or  great,  whether  man  or  woman.''  ] 

When  we  come  to  the  books  of  Ezra  and  Nehemiah, 
which  deal  with  the  return,  a  further  change  is  to  be 
noted  in  literary  form  ;  here  we  have  not  even  history, 
but  historical  documents,  the  materials  out  of  which  his- 
tory may  be  constructed.  One  who  reads  in  ordinary 
versions  of  the  Bible  is  here  in  danger,  unless  he  use 
great  caution,  of  mistaking  for  continuous  narrative  what 
is  really  a  series  of  disconnected  chronicles ;  between 
one  sentence  and  the  next  there  may  be  a  gap  in  time 
and  a  change  of  subject. 

The  first  part  of  The  Book  of  Ezra  -  relates  the  return 
under  Zerubbabel.  This  has  for  its  object  the  rebuilding 
of  the  Temple.  In  the  seventh  month  the  returned  exiles 
come  from  their  cities  to  the  ruined  Jerusalem,  set  the 
altar  upon  its  base,  and  recommence  the  daily  offerings 
and  the  periodical  feasts.  At  length  they  lay  the  foun- 
dation of  the  new  Temple,  amid  rejoicings  of  the  younger 
men,  while  the  older  men  weep  at  the  thought  of  the 
more  glorious  Temple  that  has  been  destroyed.  The 
peoples  who  have  inhabited  the  neighbourhood  during 
the  captivity,  mingling  the  service  of  Jehovah  with  idola- 
try, seek  to  unite  with  the  men  of  the  return  and  are 
coldly  repulsed  ;  they  then  make  interest  with  the  Per- 
sian court,  and  succeed  in  restraining  the  work    of  re- 

1  //  Chronicles  xv.  13-14. 

2  For  references  see  Chronicles  in  the  Appendix. 


80  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   STORY 

building  until  the  second  year  of  Darius.  Under  appeals 
from  the  prophets  Haggai  and  Zechariah  the  work  is  then 
resumed.  A  second  attempt  is  made  to  oppose,  but  the 
ruling  of  Darius  forces  the  governor  and  his  companions 
to  assist  the  Temple  builders.  The  Temple  is  thus  dedi- 
cated, and  the  courses  of  the  Levites  resumed.  The  lat- 
ter part  of  The  Book  of  Ezra  relates  to  another  return, 
under  the  leadership  of  Ezra  himself.  It  contains  Ezra's 
memoirs  of  the  journey,  and  shows  the  zeal  with  which 
he  threw  himself  into  the  reform  by  which  marriages 
between  the  restored  exiles  and  the  peoples  of  the  land 
were  put  down.  The  personal  narrative  is  prefaced  with 
an  introduction  by  some  editor,  who  continues  it  where 
Ezra's  own  writing  abruptly  ceases. 

We  reach  a  further  stage  of  the  return  with  The  Book 
of  Nehemiah ;  it  is  not  now  the  Temple,  but  the  walls  of 
the  holy  city  that  are  to  be  restored.  The  strong  per- 
sonality of  this  great  leader  gives  a  vivid  interest  to  the 
successive  parts  of  his  narrative  :  the  mournfulness  which 
draws  from  his  royal  patrons  permission  to  return  ;  the 
solitary  night  ride  in  which  he  views  the  ruined  fortifi- 
cations ;  the  organisation  of  the  builders  in  companies 
vying  with  one  another  in  the  good  work  ;  the  scornful 
opposition  of  powerful  neighbours,  and'  the  resource 
with  which  Nehemiah  meets  it,  prepared  at  all  moments 
alike  for  building  and  fighting ;  the  noble  spirit  with 
which  the  governor  leads  the  way  in  foregoing  taxes 
and  exaction  of  debts,  lest  the  poorer  exiles  suffer 
oppression ;  the  wariness  with  which  every  trap  set  to 
entice  Nehemiah  himself  from  the  work  is  evaded.  The 
rebuilding  is  carried  to  completion,  and  the  defence 
of  the  city  regularly  organised.     Later  on  in  the  same 


THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   TEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL       81 

book1  are  more  memoirs  of  Nehemiah,  dealing  with  such 
incidents  as  the  Dedication  of  the  Walls,  a  Purification 
of  the  Temple,  and  Reforms  of  Sabbath  Observance  and 
of  Marriage  Customs.  In  the  middle  part  of  the  book 
we  have  (besides  certain  Statistics  of  the  Return)  the 
important  incident  of  the  Renewal  of  the  Covenant2 
under  Ezra  and  Nehemiah. 

In  this  last-mentioned  incident  the  return  has  attained 
full  realisation,  and  the  historical  literature  of  the  Old 
Testament  may  fitly  conclude.  The  people  gather 
themselves  from  their  cities  as  one  man  to  the  broad 
place  before  the  water  gate  of  Jerusalem.  Ezra  the 
scribe  stands  "  upon  a  pulpit  of  wood  "  :  the  first  appear- 
ance of  the  pulpit  in  sacred  history  is  a  reminder  how 
the  nation  has  been  replaced  by  the  church.  The  read- 
ing of  the  Law  day  after  day,  the  weeping  of  the  people 
and  the  attempts  to  comfort  them,  make  the  whole  a 
religious  revival  service ;  the  dwelling  in  booths  suggests 
the  modern  camp  meeting.  Toward  the  close  of  the 
month  comes  the  most  solemn  assembly  of  all.  The 
people  stand  up  and  read  in  the  book  of  the  Law  a 
fourth  part  of  the  day,  and  another  fourth  part  they  con- 
fess and  worship  the  Lord.  The  Levites  lead  them  in  a 
long  survey  of  their  whole  history  :  the  covenant  between 
God  and  Abraham  to  give  his  seed  the  land  of  promise  ; 
the  long  series  of  providential  mercies  by  which  the 
promise  was  made  good ;  the  persistent  unfaithfulness  of 
the  people,  punished  by  deliverance  into  the  hands  of 
enemies ;  the  mercies  that  have  saved  them  again  and 
again,  and  even  now  not  made  a  full  end  of  them  :  — 

1  xii.  27;  for  references  generally  see  Chronicles  in  the  Appendix. 

2  vii.  73-x. 


82  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   STORY 

Xow  therefore,  our  God,  the  great,  the  mighty,  and  the 
terrible  God,  who  keepest  covenant  and  mercy,  let  not  all  the 
travail  seem  little  before  thee,  that  hath  come  upon  us,  on  our 
kings,  on  our  princes,  and  on  our  priests,  and  on  our  prophets, 
and  on  our  fathers,  and  on  all  thy  people,  since  the  time  of 
the  kings  of  Assyria  unto  this  day.  Howbeit  thou  art  just  in 
all  that  has  c6"me  upon  us;  for  thou  hast  dealt  truly,  but  we 
have  done  wickedly.  .  .  .  Behold,  we  are  servants  this  day, 
and  as  for  the  land  which  thou  gavest  unto  our  fathers  to 
eat  the  fruit  thereof  and  the  good  thereof,  behold,  we  are 
servants  in  it.  And  it  yieldeth  much  increase  unto  the  kings 
whom  thou  hast  set  over  us  because  of  our  sins :  also  they 
have  power  over  our  bodies,  and  over  our  cattle,  at  their  pleas- 
ure, and  we  are  in  great  distress.  And  yet  fur  all  this  we 
make  a  sure  covenant,  and  write  it;  and  our  princes,  our 
Levites,  and  our  priests,  seal  unto  it. 

The  covenant  so  often  renewed  between  God  and  the 
chosen  nation  is  renewed  yet  once  more  :  but  those  who 
now  enter  into  it  have  forfeited  their  independent  nation- 
ality, and  are  binding  themselves  into  a  new  community, 
for  the  service  of  Jehovah's  Temple,  and  the  observance 
of  his  sacred  Law. 


An  Epilogue  to   Old  Testame7it  History 

The  historical  books  of  the  Old  Testament  have  been 
reviewed  ;  but  there  is  outside  these  historical  books  a 
literary  work  which  may  in  some  sort  stand  as  epilogue 
to  the  history  of  Israel.  The  last  twenty-seven  chapters 
of  our  Book  of  Isaiah  make  up  the  rhapsody,  or  spirit- 
ual drama,  of  "  Zion  Redeemed."  It  is  a  stupendous 
literary  monument  :  the  form  is  magnificent,  though 
obscure  to  a  modern  reader ;  the  underlying  thought 
is  of  such  deep   spiritual   significance   that   this  part  of 


THE    HISTORY   OF  THE  PEOPLE   OF    ISRAEL       83 

the  Bible  is  the  chief  foundation  alike  of  Hebrew  and 
of  Christian  theology.  We  are  not  concerned  here  with 
the  work  as  a  whole  ;  but  a  single  one  out  of  its  many 
trains  of  interest  may  be  followed,  as  one  which  brings 
the  history  of  Israel  into  the  unity  of  a  single  thought. 

A  dramatic  vision  is  opened1  of  the  nations  of  the 
world  summoned  before  the  bar  of  God.  In  rapid  sketch 
we  have  the  idolatrous  peoples,  to  the  farthest  islands  of 
the  west,  assembling  with  panic  : 2  the  carpenter  encour- 
ages the  goldsmith,  hammer-smoother  and  anvil-smiter 
look  to  the  soldering  of  the  graven  images,  that  they 
may  stand  in  the  shock  of  confronting  the  true  God. 
For  Israel,  as  its  exiles  from  the  ends  of  the  earth  obey 
the  summons,3  there  are  tender  words  of  protection, 
and  the  wilderness  blossoms  for  them  while  they  pass 
through.  The  scene  is  to  be  conceived  as  complete  : 4 
the  nations  on  the  one  side,  Israel  on  the  other,  before 
the  judgment  seat  of  heaven.  Then  Jehovah  makes 
challenge  to  the  idols  of  the  nations. 

Declare  ye  the  former  things,  what  they  be,  that  we  may 
consider  them,  and  know  the  latter  end  of  them;  or  shew  us 
things  for  to  come. 

"  Former  things  "  and  "  things  for  to  come  "  are  brought 
together  here  :  the  gods  of  the  nations  are  challenged 
to  interpret  the  whole  train  of  events  from  first  to  last, 
to  put  upon  the  course  of  history  such  meaning  as  will 

1  Chapter  xli.  i.  The  islands  [of  Greece,  etc.]  are  the  usual  western 
limit  of  the  prophetic  world:  a  summons  to  the  'islands'  is  equivalent 
to  a  summons  of  the  whole  earth.  Compare  verse  5  and  xlix.  1.  To 
appreciate  fully  the  dramatic  character  of  this  portion  of  Isaiah  it  should 
be  read  in  a  properly  printed  text,  e.g.  the  Isaiah  volume  of  the  Modern 
Reader's  Bible. 

2  xli.  5-7.  a  xli.  S-20.  4  xli.  2i. 


84  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   STORY 

be  seen  when  Jehovah  unfolds  his  world  plan.  The  chal- 
lenge is  met  with  silence  : l  the  idols  are  but  vanity  and 
nothingness.  Then  is  unfolded  the  interpretation  of 
Jehovah :  and  it  is  the  proclamation  of  Israel  as  his 
servant.2 

Behold  my  servant,  whom  I  uphold;  my  chosen,  in  whom 
my  soul  delighteth  :  I  have  put  my  spirit  upon  him;  he  shall 
bring  forth  judgement  to  the  nations.  He  shall  not  cry,  nor 
lift  up,  nor  cause  his  voice  to  be  heard  in  the  street.  A  bruised 
reed  shall  he  not  break,  and  the  smoking  flax  shall  he  not 
quench :  he  shall  bring  forth  judgement  in  truth.  He  shall 
not  burn  dimly  nor  be  bruised,  till  he  have  set  judgement  in 
the  earth;   and  the  isles  shall  wait  for  his  law. 

To  most  readers  these  words  are  familiar  in  their  second- 
ary applications ;  we  must  not  forget  that  in  the  context 
where  they  originally  occur  their  reference  is  to  Israel, 
who  is  Jehovah's  Servant  to  make  him  known  to  the 
nations.  Not  by  violence  and  conquest  (as  Israel  had 
once  dreamed),  but  by  agencies  gentle  as  the  light  is  he 
to  win  the  peoples  to  Jehovah's  law.  But,  the  proclama- 
tion goes  on  to  show,  Israel  has  been  blind  to  his  sacred 
mission,  and  by  his  sins  has  fallen  into  the  prison  houses 
of  the  Gentiles. 

"Who  is  blind,  but  my  servant?  or  deaf,  as  my  messenger  that 
I  send?  Who  is  blind  as  he  that  is  at  peace  with  me,  and 
blind  as  the  Lord's  servant  ?  Thou  seest  many  things,  but 
thou  observest  not;  his  ears  are  open,  but  he  heareth  not.  It 
pleased  the  Lord,  for  his  righteousness'  sake,  to  magnify  the 
law,  and  make  it  honourable.  But  this  is  a  people  robbed  and 
spoiled;   they  are  all  of  them  snared  in  holes,  and  they  are  hid 

1  xli.  24,  28-29. 

2  Chapter  xlii.  1-9  and  xlii.  14-xliii.  8;  the  intervening  passage  (xlii. 
10-13)  's  one  °f  me  numerous  lyric  interruptions  of  Jehovah's  speech. 


THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL      85 

in  prison  houses:  they  are  for  a  prey,  and  none  delivereth;  for 
a  spoil,  and  none  saith,  Restore.  .  .  .  But  now  thus  saith  the 
Lord  that  created  thee,  O  Jacob,  and  he  that  formed  thee,  O 
Israel  :  Fear  not,  for  I  have  redeemed  thee. 

Gracious  promises  of  redemption  flow  forth,  up  to  the 
climax  — 

Bring  forth  the  blind  people  that  have  eyes,  and  the  deaf 
that  have  ears. 

Thus  with  Israel's  deliverance  from  the  prison  houses  of 
Babylon  comes  at  the  same  time  his  enlightenment  to  his 
spiritual  mission. 

The  moment  of  time  making  the  occasion  to  which  all 
this  proclamation  is  pointing  is,  of  course,  the  deliverance 
from  captivity  under  Cyrus.1  God  has  called  one  from 
the  north  and  from  the  rising  of  the  sun,  to  tread  the 
nations  like  clay,  and  set  Jehovah's  exiles  free.  Yet  this 
salvation  is  not  wrought  for  Israel's  sake  alone.-2 

For  thus  saith  the  Lord  that  created  the  heavens;  he  is 
God;  that  formed  the  earth  and  made  it;  he  established  it,  he 
created  it  not  a  waste,  he  formed  it  to  be  inhabited.  .  .  .  Look 
unto  me,  and  be  ye  saved,  all  the  ends  of  the  earth. 

It  is  thus  reiterated  that  in  Israel's  salvation  a  world  is 
being  saved.  Babylon,  in  all  its  pride  of  conquest,  had 
been  but  an  unconscious  instrument  of  God.3  The 
victorious  career  of  Cyrus  was  but  a  single  detail  in  a 
Divine  plan  :  the  vanquished  nations  had  been  the  price 
paid  to  Cyrus  for  the  deliverance  he  was  about  to  effect ; 
the  peoples  had  crouched,  not  before  Cyrus,  but  before 
the  God  that  was  hidden  in  him  :4  — 

1  Chapter  xli.  25 ;  compare  Chapter  xlv. 

2  Chapter  xlv.  18-24. 

3  Chapter  xlvii,  especially  verse  6. 

4  Chapter  xlv.  14. 


86  BIBLICAL    HISTORY   AND   STORY 

The  labour  of  Egypt,  and  the  merchandise  of  Ethiopia,  and 
the  Sabeans,  men  of  stature,  shall  come  over  unto  thee,  and 
they  shall  be  thine;  they  shall  go  after  thee;  in  chains  they 
shall  come  over:  and  they  shall  fall  down  unto  thee,  they  shall 
make  supplication  unto  thee  :  "  Surely  God  is  in  thee :  and 
there  is  none  else,  there  is  no  God.  Verily  thou  art  a  God 
that  hidest  thyself,  O  God  of  Israel,  the  Saviour." 

As  the  drama  progresses  we  find  Israel  speaking,  awak- 
ened at  length  to  his  mission  as  Jehovah's  Servant.1 

Listen,  O  isles,  unto  me;  and  hearken,  ye  peoples,  from  far; 
the  Lord  hath  called  me  from  the  womb,  .  .  .  and  he  said 
unto  me,  Thou  art  my  servant;  Israel,  in  whom  I  will  be  glori- 
fied. But  I  said,  I  have  laboured  in  vain,  I  have  spent  my 
strength  for  nought  and  vanity:  yet  surely  my  judgement  is 
with  the  Lord,  and  my  recompence  with  my  God.  And  now 
saith  the  Lord  that  formed  me  from  the  womb  to  be  his  servant, 
to  bring  Jacob  again  to  him,  and  that  Israel  may  be  gathered 
unto  him :  .  .  .  yea,  he  saith,  It  is  too  light  a  thing  that  thou 
shouldest  be  my  servant  to  raise  up  the  tribes  of  Jacob,  and  to 
restore  the  preserved  of  Israel :  I  will  also  giv£  thee  for  a  light 
to  the  Gentiles,  that  thou  mayest  be  my  salvation  unto  the  end 
of  the  earth. 

Later  on  in  the  rhapsody,  among  the  Songs  of  Zion 
Exalted,  we  find  one  which  presents  redeemed  Zion  in 
its  mission  of  witnessing  to  the  Gentiles.2  Jehovah 
speaks : — 

Behold,  I  have  given  him  for  a  witness  to  the  peoples,  a 
leader  and  commander  to  the  peoples.  Behold,  thou  shalt  call 
a  nation  that  thou  knowest  not,  and  a  nation  that  knew  not 
thee  shall  run  unto  thee,  because  of  the  Lord  thy  God,  and 
for  the  Holy  One  of  Israel,  for  he  hath  glorified  thee. 

1  Chapter  xlix. 

2  Chapter  lv :  verses  4-5,  8-1 1,  are  the  words  of  Jehovah  ;  the  rest  the 
words  of  Zion.  See  the  Isaiah  volume  of  the  Modern  Reader  s  Bible, 
pages  178-180,  and  217. 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE   PEOPLE   OF    ISRAEL      87 

With  this  is  heard  the  song  of  Zion  addressing  the  na- 
tions, commissioned  to  admit  them  into  the  covenant 
of  David. 

Ho,  every  one  that  thirsteth,  come  ye  to  the  waters, 
And  he  that  hath  no  money,  come  ye,  buy  and  eat; 

Yea,  come,  buy  wine  and  milk, 

Without  money  and  without  price.  .  .  . 

Incline  your  ear,  and  come  unto  me, 

Hear,  and  your  soul  shall  live : 
And  I  will  make  an  everlasting  covenant  with  you, 

Even  the  sure  mercies  of  David.  .  .  . 

Seek  ye  the  Lord  while  he  may  be  found, 

Call  ye  upon  him  while  he  is  near: 
Let  the  wicked  forsake  his  way, 

And  the  unrighteous  man  his  thoughts: 

And  let  him  return  unto  the  Lord, 

And  he  will  have  mercy  upon  him; 
And  to  our  God, 

For  he  will  abundantly  pardon. 

All  nature  exults  in  the  climax  of  a  world  of  nations 
thronging  to  Zion. 

For  ye  shall  go  out  with  joy, 

And  be  led  forth  with  peace : 
The  mountains  and  the  hills  shall  break  forth  before  you 
into  singing, 

And  all  the  trees  of  the  field  shall  clap  their  hands. 

Thus  the  whole  of  history,  otherwise  a  chaos,  becomes 
a  clear  unity  in  the  light  of  the  Divine  plan.  When  the 
covenants  made  by  God  with  all  mankind  had,  again  and 
again,  broken  down  in  a  triumph  of  sin,  one  nation  is 
chosen  out  of  the  world  to  be  God's  peculiar  people  ;  not 
however  for  their  own  sakes  only,  but  that  in  their  seed 
ail  peoples  of  the  earth  might  be  blessed.     Israel,  unfaith- 


88  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   STORY 

ful  to  his  God,  sinks  into  the  idolatry  against  which  he 
was  to  have  been  a  living  protest ;  the  chosen  people  are 
for  their  sins  scattered  through  the  idolatrous  nations,  as 
through  so  many  prison  houses.  Captivity  recalls  the 
Israelites  to  their  sacred  work ;  it  brings  them  also  in 
touch  with  the  peoples  who  through  them  are  to  be 
blessed.  Then  —  like  the  completing  of  an  electric  cir- 
cuit that  brings  the  flash  of  discovery  —  comes  the  con- 
quering career  of  Cyrus,  and  the  deliverance  that  makes 
the  Divine  plan  clear.  Israel  emerges  from  Babylon, 
no  longer  assimilated  to  the  secular  government  of  the 
nations,  but  a  people  organised  for  a  spiritual  work, 
waiting  until  the  Church  of  Israel  shall  expand  into  the 
Church  Universal. 

Such  is  the  History  of  the  People  of  Israel  as  Presented 
by  Themselves. 


CHAPTER    III 

THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  CHURCH  AS 
PRESENTED  BY  ITSELF 

Between  the  point  where  the  narrative  of  the  Old 
Testament  leaves  off  and  that  where  the  narrative  of  the 
New  Testament  begins  there  is  an  interval  of  some  four 
centuries.  During  this  period  the  Jews  changed  little, 
the  rest  of  the  world  was  wholly  transformed.  The  seat 
of  power  had  shifted  from  the  far  east  to  the  far  west ; 
the  civilised  world  had  become  the  Roman  empire ;  by 
permission  of  Rome  Herod  and  other  kings  reigned  in 
the  holy  land,  and  in  time  a  Roman  governor  was  found 
in  Jerusalem.  A  new  intellectual  life  had  commenced 
for  the  world  under  the  leadership  of  the  Greeks  ;  though 
this  affected  the  Jews  of  Palestine  comparatively  little,  it 
had  permeated  other  countries  into  which  the  Christian 
Church  was  destined  to  extend.  In  the  midst  of  this 
changing  world  the  Jews  from  the  time  of  the  return 
had  never  lost  their  distinctiveness  as  a  spiritual  people. 
The  religion  of  the  Law,  under  leadership  of  scribes  and 
rabbis,  had  gradually  stiffened  into  a  system  of  fanaticism  ; 
the  '  Tradition  of  the  Elders '  had  covered  over  the  Law 
itself  with  a  host  of  unwritten  precepts,  themes  of  end- 
less disputations,  and  making  life  a  burden  of  ceremonial 
usages  and  things  to  be  avoided.  Geographically,  the 
holy  land  now  appears  in  the  form  of  three  provinces  : 
the  southern  province  is  Judcea,   focus  of  the  religious 

89 


<X)  BIBLICAL    HISTORY   AND    STORY 

zeal  of  the  people ;  there  is  an  inferior  province  of 
Galilee  round  the  northern  lake ;  between  is  the  province 
of  the  Samaritans,  hated  as  descendants  of  the  mixed 
peoples  who  inhabited  the  holy  land  during  the  exile, 
and  mingled  worship  of  Jehovah  with  heathen  supersti- 
tions. Among  religious  parties  two  stand  out  as  promi- 
nent:  the  Pharisees,  great  upholders  of  traditions,  the 
worship  of  angels,  and  the  doctrine  of  a  future  life ;  the 
Sadducees,  who  appear  in  the  New  Testament  as  oppo- 
nents of  the  resurrection  doctrine  and  the  belief  in  angels, 
and  who  take  their  stand  on  the  Law  itself.  Both  agree 
in  hating  the  Roman  conqueror,  and  looking  eagerly  for 
the  Messiah  of  prophecy,  who  should  lead  the  Jews  to  the 
conquest  of  the  world. 

If  we  make  a  proper  arrangement  of  our  materials  it 
is  possible  to  see  that  the  literary  characteristics  distin- 
guishing narrative  in  the  Old  Testament  are,  with  the 
natural  modifications,  continued  in  the  New  Testament. 
Old  Testament  narrative  is  a  combination  of  history  and 
story  :  connected  annals  of  mere  events,  and  vivid  inci- 
dents which  from  time  to  time  bring  out  the  real  spirit 
of  the  history.  But  where  the  theme  is  the  sacred  work 
of  Jesus,  and  its  continuation  by  his  successors,  the 
eminent  points  will  be,  not  incidents  that  make  a  sub- 
ject for  stories,  but  rather  thoughts  which  find  expres- 
sion in  discourse.  Accordingly,  the  gospels  are  made 
up  of  the  Acts  and  Words  of  Jesus:  the  Words  —  of 
parable  or  discourse  —  scattered  through  the  Acts  just 
as  the  stories  are  interspersed  in  the  annals  of  the  older 
narrative.  Again,  one  book  contains  the  '  Acts  of  the 
Apostles ' ;  but  for  the  successive  Words,  or  discourses  in 
which  the  apostles  expressed  the  spirit  of  their  minis- 


HISTORY   OF  THE   NEW    I T.S TAMENT   CHURCH     91 

try,  we  have  to  go  outside  this  book  to  the  separate 
works  entitled  '  Epistles.'  It  is  practicable,  however,  to 
introduce  the  several  epistles  at  their  proper  points  of 
connection  with  the  narrative  ;  thus  by  a  combination 
of  The  Book  of  Acts  with  The  Epistles  the  second  stage  of 
the  history  can  be  assimilated  to  the  first.  In  this  way 
the  present  chapter  proposes  to  follow  the  History  of  the 
Xew  Testament  Church  as  Presented  by  Itself.  It  may 
be  added  that  of  the  four  gospels  available  two  belong  to 
a  different  division  of  literature,  and  will  be  considered 
at  the  proper  place  ;  while  that  of  St.  Mark  seems  to  be 
a  simple  succession  of  memoirs.  It  is  The  Gospel  of  St. 
Luke  that  will  be  followed  here  ;  both  because  his  is  the 
narrative  which  is  continued  in  Acts,  and  also  because  St. 
Luke's  preface  manifests  him  as  having  the  bent  of  an 
historian,  who  out  of  the  best  traditions  "  traces  the 
course  of  all  things  accurately  from  the  first,"  and  then 
"writes  in  order." 

The  Life  of  Jesus 

Where  the  purpose  is  not  to  narrate  or  even  sketch 
the  history,  but  simply  to  introduce  to  the  literature  in 
which  it  is  contained,  it  may  well  happen  that  the  most 
important  parts  of  the  history  are  precisely  the  parts 
that  need  the  briefest  treatment.  The  incidents  of 
Christ's  life  are  so  familiar,  and  the  style  of  St.  Luke  so 
perspicuous,  that  nothing  is  requisite  here  except  to  indi- 
cate the  principles  of  connection  in  the  author's  mind, 
which  seem  to  govern  the  order  of  narration  and  the 
prominence  given  to  different  parts.  In  the  preliminary 
section,  which  precedes  the  ministry  of  Jesus,  even  this 


92  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   STORY 

is  unnecessary.  It  is  obvious  how  St.  Luke  has  carried 
his  inquiries  back  to  the  earliest  announcement  received 
by  the  parents  of  the  birth  that  is  coming,  alike  of  Jesus 
and  his  forerunner  John ;  there  follow  the  births  of  the 
two,  the  testimony  borne  to  Jesus  when  he  is  presented 
in  the  Temple,  the  incident  of  his  boyhood  showing  his 
attraction  to  the  house  of  his  Father.  The  ministry  of 
John  then  appears  as  a  call  to  repentance,  pointing  to  a 
greater  successor;  the  successor  is  divinely  indicated 
when  Jesus  comes  to  be  baptized.  The  baptism  is  fol- 
lowed by  the  temptation  in  the  wilderness ;  and  then  the 
way  is  left  free  for  Jesus  to  commence  his  ministry. 

The  ministry  of  Jesus,  prior  to  the  final  incidents  in 
Jerusalem,  appears  in  Luke's  narrative  to  fall  into  two 
main  divisions.1  The  first  is  the  ministry  in  Galilee. 
With  an  historian's  instinct,  Luke  makes  his  first  incident 
the  appearance  of  Jesus  in  his  own  city,  and  his  claim  to 
be  the  Redeemer  pictured  in  The  Book  of  Isaiah.  With 
this  are  associated  what  would  seem  to  be  typical  sketches 
of  his  daily  life  :  a  general  work  of  healing  and  notable 
examples,  casting  out  of  devils,  preaching  in  the  syna- 
gogues and  prayer  in  desert  places,  the  call  of  followers. 
Soon  opposition  begins  to  show  itself :  the'  forgiveness  of 
sins  appears  to  the  Pharisees  blasphemy,  objection  is 
taken  to  company ing  with  publicans  and  sinners,  to 
works  of  necessity  and  mercy  on  the  sabbath ;  Jesus 
makes  answer  to  all.  There  is  the  first  suggestion  of 
organisation  in  the  choice  of  the  twelve  disciples ;  with 
these  before  him  Jesus  speaks  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount, 
which  embodies  his  general  moral  teaching.  We  now 
find  a  group  of  more  notable  events  :  a  Roman  centurion 
1  For  references,  see  Life  of  Jesus  in  the  Appendix. 


HISTORY   OF  THE   NEW   TESTAMENT   CHURCH     93 

recognises  the  authority  of  Christ ;  a  youth  is  raised  from 
the  dead ;  the  doubting  message  from  John  the  Baptist 
brings  out  how  the  popular  religious  movement  of  the 
hour  is  pronounced  an  inferior  dispensation  ;  the  beauti- 
ful incident  of  the  sinful  woman  stealing  in  to  the  Phari- 
see's feast  to  anoint  the  feet  of  Jesus  marks  the  novelty 
of  the  religion,  in  which  one  who  loves  much  appears 
more  important  than  one  who  has  little  to  be  forgiven. 
The  company  of  followers  seems  to  attain  further  or- 
ganisation when  to  the  twelve  is  added  a  band  of  women 
who  minister  of  their  substance.  Jesus  now,  with  his 
parable  of  the  Sower,  inaugurates  a  mode  of  teaching 
which  makes  a  distinction  between  the  inner  body  of 
disciples,  who  are  admitted  to  the  interpretation,  and 
the  outer  world,  who  rest  content  with  the  word  of  para- 
ble. Round  the  shores  of  the  lake  as  a  scene  are 
grouped  a  series  of  impressive  events  :  calming  of  the 
stormy  sea,  casting  out  the  legion  of  devils,  raising 
Jairus's  daughter  from  the  dead.  Then  the  band  of 
followers  is  further  organised  for  missionary  work,  and 
the  twelve  are  sent  out  to  preach  and  heal.  At  last  we 
reach  the  climax  of  this  section,  and  the  turning  point  in 
the  life  of  Jesus.  Peter  speaks  his  recognition  of  the 
Christ :  Jesus  immediately  follows  this  with  the  new 
revelation  that  the  Son  of  man  is  to  suffer  and  die,  and 
the  new  religion  is  founded  on  a  self-denial  that  must  be 
ready  to  give  up  life  itself.  To  crown  this  complete 
revelation  comes  the  Transfiguration,  and  Jesus  dis- 
courses with  the  types  of  Law  and  Prophets  on  the 
decease  about  to  be  accomplished  at  Jerusalem.  When 
all  are  astonished  at  the  newly  seen  "  majesty  of  God," 
Jesus  insists  again  upon  the  coming  death  ;  when  they 


94  BIBLICAL   HISTORY    AND   STORY 

are  moved  with  expectation  of  a  wonderful  revolution,  he 
uses  the  symbol  of  a  child  in  their  midst  to  point  the 
lesson,  He  that  is  least  among  you  is  great. 

We  now  read  that  Jesus  "  stedfastly  set  his  face  to  go 
to  Jerusalem  " :  this  Way  to  Jerusalem  is  the  next  main 
division  of  St.  Luke's  narrative,  and  through  the  succes- 
sion of  events  we  can  plainly  feel  the  growing  expecta- 
tion of  some  '  kingdom  of  God  '  to  be  revealed  at  the 
journey's  end.  Sometimes  the  order  of  incidents  is 
determined  by  connection  with  local  spots  on  the  route, 
which  have  been  fixed  by  the  accurate  historian.  Thus, 
the  way  lies  through  Samaria :  local  hostility  draws  pas- 
sion from  the  disciples,  which  Jesus  rebukes,  and  (a  little 
later)  in  his  parable  of  the  Good  Samaritan  he  extends 
the  idea  of  neighbour  to  all  mankind.  Similarly,  we  are 
introduced  to  the  home  of  Mary  and  Martha ;  with  one 
"  certain  place  "  are  connected  the  Lord's  Prayer  and  its 
accompanying  parable  of  the  Importunate  Friend,  with 
another  the  incident  of  the  ten  lepers,  of  whom  only  one 
returned  to  give  thanks  for  his  healing ;  with  Jericho  we 
get  the  stories  of  blind  Bartimseus  and  Zacchaeus.  But 
for  the  most  part  the  thread  of  connection  running 
through  this  part  of  the  narrative  is  the  growing  expecta- 
tion of  the  kingdom.  Amid  the  great  things  that  are 
being  looked  for  the  spirit  of  mammon  begins  to  appear  : 
an  invitation  to  Jesus  to  arbitrate  in  a  question  of  an 
estate  draws  forth  the  indignant  parable  of  the  Rich 
Fool,  thinking  only  of  new  storehouses  while  his  last  day 
was  upon  him  ;  and  a  little  later  we  have  the  parables 
of  the  Unjust  Steward,  of  the  Rich  Man  and  the  Beggar 
Lazarus.  The  growing  hopes  of  Christ's  followers  are 
met  by  growing  opposition   from  outside.     On  the  one 


HISTORY   OF  THE   NEW  TESTAMENT  CHURCH     95 

hand,  the  miracles  of  healing  are  ascribed  to  demon 
agency;  on  the  other  hand,  a  sign  from  heaven  is  de- 
manded. The  omission  by  Jesus  of  ceremonial  ablution 
in  a  Pharisee's  house  leads  to  a  denunciation  of  the  whole 
tradition  of  ceremonial  observances,  and  of  the  Pharisees 
and  lawyers  who  bind  this  burden  on  the  people ;  at 
last  the  parable  of  the  Supper,  to  which  the  invited  guests 
came  not,  but  the  blind  and  lame  were  brought  in  from 
streets  and  lanes,  is  accepted  as  a  final  breach  between 
the  new  teacher  and  the  spiritual  aristocracy  of  his  dav. 
All  through  this  part  of  the  narrative  the  suggestion  of 
ever  increasing  multitudes  reflects  the  advancing  expec- 
tation of  the  kingdom  to  be  revealed.  Jesus  has  to 
repress  the  ardour  of  those  about  him,  with  discourse  of 
the  narrow  way,  of  counting  the  cost  \  it  is  a  mixed  mul- 
titude, and  when  objection  is  taken  to  the  presence  of 
publicans  and  sinners  we  have  for  answer  the  parables 
of  the  Lost  Sheep,  of  the  Prodigal  Son.  At  the  close  of 
this  section  expression  is  given  to  the  general  spirit  of 
inquiry,  whether  the  kingdom  is  immediately  to  appear. 
Jesus  seems  in  vain  to  insist  that  this  kingdom  "  cometh 
not  with  observation";  he  enlarges  upon  the  spirit  of 
preparedness,  of  praying  without  fainting,  and  character- 
istic parables  enforce  this  teaching  —  parables  of  the 
Unjust  Judge,  the  Pharisee  and  the  Publican,  of  the  Good 
and  Evil  Servants,  and  how  they  used  their  talents  while 
awaiting  their  lord. 

In  the  final  division  of  St.  Luke's  gospel,  which  pre- 
sents Jesus  in  Jerusalem,  the  course  of  events  moves  on 
with  the  utmost  simplicity  through  the  most  pregnant 
days  of  the  sacred  history.  We  have  the  triumphal 
entry  into  Jerusalem,  followed  by  the  cleansing  of  the 


96  BIBLICAL   HISTORY    AND   STORY 

Temple.  Then  representatives  of  the  ruling  classes 
challenge  the  authority  of  the  new  leader,  or  endeavour 
to  entangle  him  with  carefully  contrived  questions: 
Jesus  makes  answer  to  each  challenge  or  question,  but 
meets  the  general  spirit  which  has  prompted  them  with 
the  parable  of  the  Husbandmen,  who,  after  slaying  their 
lord's  messengers,  hesitated  not  at  last  to  slay  the  heir 
himself.  The  sight  of  the  splendid  Temple  draws  from 
Jesus  the  unveiling  of  the  future  troubles,  in  which  not 
one  stone  of  the  great  building  shall  be  left  standing 
upon  another.  At  last  we  have  the  Passover,  the  arrest 
of  Jesus  and  his  trial,  the  Crucifixion  and  Resurrection. 
The  risen  Lord,  first  to  the  disciples  in  their  walk  to 
Emmaus,  then  to  the  whole  body  gathered  at  Jerusalem, 
unfolds  the  scripture  concerning  himself :  — 

Thus  it  is  written,  that  the  Christ  should  suffer,  and  rise 
again  from  the  dead  the  third  day;  and  that  repentance  and 
remission  of  sins  should  be  preached  in  his  name  unto  all  the 
nations,  beginning  from  Jerusalem.  Ye  are  witnesses  of  these 
things. 

In  these  words  is  given  the  commission  to  the  apostles. 
The  acts  of  these  apostles  in  carrying  out  this  commis- 
sion make  the  second  part  of  the  New  Testament  history. 

The  Acts  of  the  Apostles 

To  the  book  entitled  The  Acts  of  the  Apostles  objec- 
tion has  been  made  by  some  readers  on  the  ground  of 
the  imperfect  cohesion  of  its  parts,  as  if  the  purpose 
found  to  underlie  its  latter  part  was  different  from  the 
purpose  of  the  earlier  sections;  on  the  ground  again  of 
the  abrupt  conclusion  suggestive  of  a  work  left  imper- 


HISTORY   OF  THE   NEW  TESTAMENT   CHURCH     97 

feet.  I  would  say,  on  the  contrary,  that  as  a  piece  of 
literature  The  Book  of  Acts  is  singularly  complete  and 
coherent,  if  regard  be  had  to  the  purpose  of  the  whole 
as  laid  down  in  the  title.  To  the  apostles  a  certain 
commission  has  been  given:  they  are  witnesses  of  Christ 
"both  in  Jerusalem  and  in  all  Judaea  and  Samaria,  and 
unto  the  uttermost  part  of  the  earth."1  Accordingly, 
the  book  relates,  with  fulness  and  simplicity,  the  wit- 
ness in  Jerusalem,  and  again  in  the  rest  of  the  holy  land. 
But  how  is  ft  possible  to  present  the  witnessing  "  unto 
the  uttermost  part  of  the  earth"?  It  is  clear  that  a 
book  which  confines  itself  to  the  original  apostles  can 
deal  with  this  work  of  all  time  only  in  embryo:  it  can 
display  typical  movements,  germs  of  infinite  expansions 
in  the  future.  This  is  what  The  Book  of  Acts  does:  it 
follows  successive  widenings,  in  the  classes  of  people 
reached  by  the  word,  in  the  instruments  by  which  the 
work  is  carried  forward:  when  the  chief  agent  of  this 
expansion  is  seen  in  the  metropolis  of  the  civilised 
world  a  natural  place  is  found  for  this  embryonic  history 
of  Christianity  to  stop.  But  though  as  a  narrative  Acts 
is  complete,  its  history  may  be  made  yet  more  complete 
by  bringing  to  bear  upon  it  other  parts  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament, which  will  supply  what  narrative  cannot  accom- 
plish. Intthe  growth  of  the  Christian  Church  the  most 
important  element  is  the  expansion,  not  of  area,  but  of 
ideas:  the  epistles  of  the  apostles  supplement  the  narra- 
tive of  their  acts,  and  reflect  the  advancing  mind  of  the 
church.  It  is  thus  by  a  combination  of  narrative  Acts 
and  apostolic  Epistles  that  the  New  Testament  presents 
the  church  history  of  the  period  it  covers. 

1  Acts  i.  8. 


98  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND    STORY 


The  witness  at  Jerusalem  is  commenced  when  the  city 
is  at  its  fullest  for  the  Feast  of  Pentecost.  The  apos- 
tles, with  their  small  band  of  followers,  had  waited  in 
quietness  and  prayer  for  the  supernatural  manifestation 
which  was  to  be  a  signal  for  their  work  to  begin.  It 
comes  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  in  the  rushing,  mighty 
wind,  and  the  "tongues parting  asunder  like  as  of  fire," 
while,  when  the  apostles  speak,  all  who  listen  hear  each 
in  his  own  language.  Thus  the  miracle  of  Babel,  which 
in  the  Old  Testament  had  accompanied  the  dispersal  of 
races  previous  to  the  call  of  a  peculiar  people  for  God, 
has  been  now  reversed.  Like  the  supernatural  emblems 
of  prophecy,  this  gift  of  tongues  remains  through  the 
early  days  of  the  church,  to  symbolise  the  mighty  work 
at  last  begun,  of  drawing  all  the  diverse  races  of  man- 
kind into  one  universal  fold.  When  Peter  speaks  for 
his  brethren,  it  is  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  on  which 
he  takes  his  stand.  The  word  brings  converts  by  thou- 
sands, who  unite  into  a  fellowship,  with  community  of 
life,  and  meetings  for  teaching  and  worship.  A  notable 
miracle  of  the  apostles  brings  upon  them  the  attack  of 
the  ruling  authorities;  it  is  the  party  of  the  Sadducees 
that  is  in  power,  and  they  are  scandalised  at  the  clam- 
orous assertion  of  a  resurrection.  But  the  followers  of 
Jesus  are  only  made  more  staunch  by  persecution.  A 
more  determined  uprising  of  official  authority  follows, 
with  threats  even  of  death;  but  the  influence  of  Gama- 
liel prevails,  and  the  council  are  induced  to  let  the  new 

*  For  these  divisions,  and  references  generally,  see  Acts  of  the  Apostles 
in  the  Appendix. 


HISTORY    OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  CHURCH     99 

movement  take  its  course,  in  the  hope  that  "  if  this  work 
be  of  men,  it  will  be  overthrown." 

We  soon  come  upon  the  significant  sentence  that 
"there  arose  a  murmuring  of  the  Grecian  Jews  against 
the  Hebrews,"  first  appearance  of  the  two  elements 
within  the  fellowship  of  the  apostles,  the  conflict  of 
which  was  to  make  an  early  phase  of  Christian  history. 
At  this  point,  however,  it  is  no  more  than  a  question  of 
administration,  and  this  is  easily  met  by  the  appoint- 
ment of  deacons  to  supplement  the  more  spiritual  work  of 
the  apostles.  Of  these  new  deacons  the  chief  is  Stephen; 
his  powerful  words  as  combatant  for  the  new  teaching 
draw  fierce  opposition,  culminating  in  a  trial  before 
the  Sanhedrin  and  the  first  Christian  martyrdom. 
Among  those  who  stand  approvingly  at  this  judicial 
murder  is  the  young  Pharisee  Saul.  The  persecution 
thus  commenced  extends,  and  drives  the  followers  of 
Jesus  out  of  Jerusalem;  in  this  way  the  evangelisation  of 
Samaria  and  Galilee  and  the  remoter  parts  of  Judaea  is 
accomplished.  But  the  persecution  is  as  widespread  as 
the  preaching :  Saul  is  on  his  way  to  Damascus  to  make 
arrests  when  he  is  overtaken  by  the  heavenly  vision,  and 
the  spiritual  experiences  which  transform  him  from  a 
persecutor  of  the  faith  to  its  leading  champion.  After 
this  event  the  persecution  of  the  new  Way  seems  to  cease 
for  a  time ;  we  read  that  the  church  throughout  all  Ju- 
daea and  Galilee  and  Samaria  had  peace,  being  edified. 

We  have  proceeded  thus'far  in  our  apostolic  history: 
of  the  original  commission  to  the  apostles  two  portions 
have  been  fully  executed;  the  immense  third  —  the  wit- 
ness to  the  uttermost  part  of  the  earth  —  remains,  yet 
already  that  powerful  personality  has  appeared  through 


100  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND    STORY 

whose  agency  chiefly  the  new  work  of  the  church  is  to 
be  executed.  What  follows  next  is  not  a  territorial,  but 
a  spiritual  expansion.  'Wherever  the  gospel  had  spread 
before  this  it  had  gone  only  to  Jews  or  Judaising  Greeks : 
the  new  movement  has  now  to  traverse  the  gulf  that 
separates  between  Jew  and  Gentile,  the  chosen  nation 
with  their  life  of  legal  ceremony,  and  the  uncleanness 
of  uncircumcised  peoples  outside  the  ranks  of  Israel. 
At  crises  like  these  there  always  appears,  in  the  narra- 
tive of  The  Acts,  the  supernatural  power  that  is  behind 
human  agency.  It  is  prophetic  vision  that  beckons  to 
the  new  departure.  The  Roman  Cornelius,  in  Caesarea, 
sees  his  vision  bidding  send  for  Peter;  Peter  on  the 
housetop  in  Joppa  beholds  the  symbol  of  the  fourfooted 
and  creeping  things,  and  hears  the  word,  What  God  has 
cleansed  call  not  thou  unclean.  Peter  accompanies  the 
messengers,  and,  preaching  to  the  Gentile  audience  in 
the  house  of  Cornelius,  recognises  the  gift  of  tongues 
and  all  the  outward  signs  of  the  Holy  Ghost :  he  dares 
the  act  of  baptism.  The  brethren  in  Judaea  hear  and 
inquire:  upon  receiving  Peter's  testimony  they  cannot 
withhold  their  witness,  "Then  to  the  Gentiles  also  hath 
God  granted  repentance  unto  life."  As  we  read  on  we 
feel  how  we  have  entered  upon  a  new  epoch.  It  soon 
appears  how  Antioch  has  become  as  truly  a  centre  for 
Gentile  Christianity  as  Jerusalem  was  a  centre  of  Juda- 
ism. It  is  now  that  the  new  name  'Christians  '  appears: 
the  early  converts  had  been  regarded  only  as  a  'way  '  or 
order  of  the  Jews.  And  if  the  historian  proceeds  at  this 
point  to  narrate  the  persecution  in  Jerusalem,  under 
which  James  was  slain  and  Peter  imprisoned  and  deliv- 
ered by  ministry  of  angels,  it  is  only,  as  it  were,  to  wind 


HISTORY   OF  THE   NEW  TESTAMENT  CHURCH     101 

up  this  first  chapter  of  the  Christian  history,  in  which 
Jerusalem  and  the  twelve  apostles  had  been  the  centre. 
Henceforth  interest  is  transferred  to  Paul  and  the  exten- 
sion of  Christianity  over  the  vast  Gentile  world,  the  other 
apostles  and  Jerusalem  appearing  only  incidentally,  and 
as  they  affect  Gentile  history. 


New  departures  in  ideals  of  Christian  work  are  likely 
to  bring  new  institutions.  We  now  find  recognised  as  a 
leading  instrument  for  the  evangelisation  of  the  world 
the  Missionary  Journey,  by  which  might  be  organised 
local  communities  with  independent  Christian  life  of 
their  own,  yet  linked  through  their  founders  or  other 
missionaries  with  Christian  communities  elsewhere.  It 
is  in  the  Gentile  metropolis  of  Antioch  that  this  institu- 
tion of  the  Missionary  Journey  first  makes  its  appearance, 
amid  prophecy  and  fasting,  and  special  influence  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  The  two  first  ordained  to  the  work  are 
Paul,  whose  wide  culture  marked  him  out  as  fittest  to 
encounter  Gentile  thought,  and  Barnabas,  the  Hebrew 
who  had  been  the  first  to  appreciate  Paul's  special  value, 
and  had  brought  him  to  Antioch  as  soon  as  Gentiles  had 
been  admitted  by  Peter.  The  first  missionary  journey 
is  described,  with  details  enough  to  show  the  method  of 
working;  more  especially,  the  way  in  which  the  apostles 
carry  their  message  to  Jews  first,  and  only  on  the  oppo- 
sition of  the  Jews  turn  to  the  Gentiles.  Miracles  attend 
the  preaching  of  the  missionaries,  persecution  follows 
them  from  city  to  city;  in  Lystra  they  have  the  double 
experience  of  being  worshipped  as  deities  and  then 
stoned  as  malefactors. 


102  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND    STORY 

It  was  inevitable  that,  sooner  or  later,  the  two  ele- 
ments within  the  fellowship  of  the  apostles  should  come 
into  conflict.  It  had  needed  the  authority  of  miracle 
even  to  introduce  the  novel  idea  that  Gentiles  as  well 
as  Jews  were  partakers  in  the  new  faith.  But  of  those 
accepting  this  revelation  only  a  very  few  accepted  it  in 
its  entirety:  to  most  it  appeared  that  Gentiles  could 
become  Christians  only  by  first  becoming  Jews;  that  the 
rite  of  circumcision  and  the  whole  law  of  Moses  was 
obligatory.  Paul  and  his  missionary  colleague  stoutly 
contested  this  idea;  and  at  last  a  deputation  went  to 
Jerusalem  to  consult  with  the  brethren  there.  In  the 
famous  gathering  that  met  to  consider  this  weighty 
matter  Peter,  through  whom  had  been  revealed  the  sal- 
vation of  the  Gentiles,  pointed  out  that  on  the  miracu- 
lous occasion  of  their  first  admission  the  signs  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  had  been  bestowed  on  Gentiles  precisely  as 
before  on  Jews,  God  making  no  difference.  The  apos- 
tles of  the  Gentiles  followed  with  witness  to  the  signs 
and  wonders  that  had  attended  their  work.  Then 
James,  representing  the  most  venerable  and  purely  Jew- 
ish tradition,  illustrated  how  prophecy  had  contemplated 
the  ingathering  of  the  Gentiles,  and  himself  proposed 
the  great  eirenicon,  that  the  new  converts  should  be 
asked  to  forego  certain  idolatrous  customs  specially 
shocking  to  their  Jewish  brethren.  In  a  circular  letter 
this  eirenicon  was  sent  abroad:  thus  conflict  was  changed 
into  consolation,  and  in  the  most  formal  manner  recog- 
nition was  given  to  a  non-circumcision  Christianity. 

It  is  usual  to  distinguish  three  missionary  journeys  of 
St.  Paul.  To  me  this  seems  misleading  if  offered  as  a 
principle  of  analysis  for  The  Book  of  Acts.     Stress  is 


HISTORY   OF  THE   NEW  TESTAMENT   CHURCH     103 

rightly  laid  on  the  first  missionary  journey,  for  this 
comes  as  a  new  institution  in  the  extension  of  Christen- 
dom. But  from  this  point  onwards  the  particular 
itineraries  of  the  apostle  become  of  small  importance; 
indeed,  the  so-called  second  and  third  journeys  are 
found  to  mingle  almost  in  the  same  sentence.1  On  the 
other  hand,  what  comes  into  prominence  as  a  landmark 
of  the  narrative  is  a  new  expansion  of  Christianity,  its 
spread  from  Asia  into  Europe,  from  the  region  of  the 
past  to  the  region  of  future  history.  It  is  round  this  first 
preaching  of  the  word  in  Europe  that  there  gather  the 
signs  of  providential  guidance  and  supernatural  vision.2 

They  went  through  the  region  of  Phrygia  and  Galatia,  hav- 
ing been  forbidden  of  the  Holy  Ghost  to  speak  the  word  in 
Asia;  and  when  they  were  come  over  against  Mysia,  they 
assayed  to  go  into  Bithynia;  and  the  Spirit  of  Jesus  suffered 
them  not;  and  passing  by  Mysia,  they  came  down  to  Troas. 
And  a  vision  appeared  to  Paul  in  the  night :  There  was  a  man 
of  Macedonia  standing,  beseeching  him,  and  saying,  Come  over 
into  Macedonia,  and  help  us.  And  when  he  had  seen  the 
vision,  straightway  we  sought  to  go  forth  into  Macedonia,  con- 
cluding that  God  had  called  us  for  to  preach  the  Gospel  unto 
them. 

We  pass  into  a  new  phase  of  St.  Paul's  career,  which, 
though  interrupted  by  other  journeyings,  has  its  main 
character  given  to  it  by  great  cities  of  Europe,  or  the 
European  coast  of  Asia.  We  read  of  the  Roman  colony 
of  Philippi,  with  its  incident  of  imprisonment  and  mid- 
night earthquake,  where  Paul  claims  his  right  as  a  Roman 
citizen.      Thessalonica,    Bercea,    have    their    scenes   of 

1  Acts  xviii.  23  :  "  And  having  spent  some  time  there  [at  Antiock]  he 
departed :  "  this  is  all  that  separates  the  two. 

2  Acts  xvi.  6. 


104  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND    STORY 

preaching  and  of  persecution  from  Jewish  opponents. 
At  Athens  Paul  confronts  the  intellectual  aristocracy  of 
the  world;  at  Corinth  he  is  in  one  of  its  commercial 
capitals;  in  Ephesus  he  encounters  the  magnificent 
Diana  worship.  Paul's  mode  of  life  becomes  some- 
what more  stable :  terms  measured  by  years  are  given 
as  periods  of  stay  in  a  place;  at  Corinth  he  enters  into 
partnership  with  a  tent-maker,  elsewhere  he  gives  daily 
lectures  for  a  space  of  two  years.  It  is  by  vision  that 
Paul  (at  Corinth1)  is  led  to  contemplate  a  protracted 
stay:  this  leads  us  to  the  expectation  that  the  change  in 
his  habits  is  to  reflect  a  change  in  his  mission.  And 
this  is  found  to  be  the  case.  A  point  has  been  reached 
at  which  the  development  of  Christianity  is  to  consist, 
not  so  much  in  enrolment  of  new  churches,  but  in  build- 
ing up  those  that  already  stand;  not  in  the  simple  work 
of  evangelisation,  but  in  ecclesiastical  statesmanship  and 
the  philosophy  of  Christian  life.  Accordingly,  it  is  in 
connection  with  his  work  in  the  great  cities  that  we  find 
the  first  group  of  Paul's  pastoral  epistles. 

3 

To  the  Missionary  Journey  is  thus  added  another 
institution  of  early  Christianity  —  the  Missionary  Epis- 
tle. The  apostles  were  in  some  sort  successors  of  the 
prophets :  these,  however,  had  ministered  to  a  single 
people  within  a  limited  area,  whereas  the  teachers  of  the 
New  Testament  had  to  deal  with  scattered  churches,  with 
whom  the  epistle  was  the  natural  mode  of  intercourse. 
The  Missionary  Journey  and  the  Missionary  Epistle 
together  made  the  very  life  blood  of  early  Christendom : 

1  Acts  xviii.  9. 


HISTORY   OF  THE   NEW   TESTAMENT   CHURCH     105 

a  circulating  medium  by  which  the  thoughts  of  each 
fragment  were  conveyed  to  the  whole,  the  influence  of 
those  who  led  was  brought  home  to  their  remotest  fol- 
lowers. Though  written  in  free  style,  the  pastoral 
epistles  show  a  common  structure.  Over  and  above 
the  formal  greeting  at  the  commencement,  and  personal 
messages  at  the  close,  an  epistle  has  three  distinct  parts. 
There  is  a  Recognition  of  the  mutual  relations  between 
the  writer  and  the  people  addressed;  this  may  descend 
to  particulars  of  personal  movements,  or  rise  to  heights 
of  Christian  meditation  and  prayer.  At  the  end  there 
is  Exhortation  :  this  may  spring  directly  out  of  the  matter 
of  the  epistle,  or  it  may  be  as  general  as  the  disconnected 
sentences  of  a  book  of  wisdom.  Between  the  Recog- 
nition and  the  Exhortation  comes  the  Doctrinal  Dis- 
cussion. While  the  other  portions  of  an  epistle  have  a 
valuable  bearing  upon  the  personality  and  movements  of 
the  apostles,  it  is  the  doctrinal  part  that  is  important  in 
the  history  of  Christianity.  For  a  pastoral  epistle  is 
called  forth  by  an  emergency :  in  its  doctrinal  discus- 
sion the  apostle  is  bringing  to  bear  upon  this  emergency 
the  expanding  thought  of  the  new  religion.  Thus  the 
succession  of  pastoral  epistles  traces  the  history  of 
Christianity  in  a  series  of  urgent  questions. 

In  The  Epistles  to  the  Thessalonians  we  have  a  glimpse 
of  a  passing  phase  of  early  Christianity,  when  all  other 
questions  sank  into  the  background  in  comparison  with 
the  expectation  of  an  immediate  coming  of  Christ.  Like 
the  Israelites  prepared  for  their  exodus,  the  Christian 
churches  were  standing  with  their  loins  girded:  it  is  this 
expectancy  of  a  sudden  manifestation  that  explains  the 
community   of  goods  among  the  early  converts,    as   if 


106  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND    STORY 

property  had  now  no  use  save  to  minister  to  daily  neces- 
sities of  the  brethren  until  the  end  should  come.  The 
first  shock  to  this  attitude  of  expectancy  came,  for  the 
Thessalonian  churches,  in  the  death  of  some  of  their 
number.  Did  this  mean  that  their  loved  brethren  had 
fallen  out  of  the  Christian  hope,  and  were  but  as  they 
who  die  in  the  world?  Or  was  there  mistake  as  to  the 
season  of  the  Lord's  coming?  St.  Paul  in  his  first  epistle 
appeals  to  the  resurrection  of  Jesus,  and  bids  his  brethren 
believe  that  their  dead  shall  be  at  no  disadvantage  — 
nay,  that  the  dead  in  Christ  will  be  the  first  to  arise.  As 
to  times  and  seasons,  they  know  that  the  day  of  the  Lord 
must  come  as  a  thief  in  the  night,  yet  without  terror  to 
those  who  are  children  of  the  light.  But  before  the 
second  epistle  was  written  it  would  seem  as  if  this  ripple 
of  disturbance  in  Thessalonica  had  become  a  theo- 
logical revolution:  factious  teachers  —  apparently  using 
Paul's  name  —  had  introduced  the  idea  that  there  was  to 
be  no  "coming of  the  Lord  "  except  such  as  had  already 
come.  This  Paul  combats,  with  arguments  that  are  dif- 
ficult for  us  to  follow,  inasmuch  as  they  are  references 
to  his  verbal  teaching  while  in  Thessalonica.  The 
main  thought  is  that  the  signs  precedent  of  Christ's 
coming  were  not  yet  appearing,  —  the  "falling  away" 
and  "revelation  of  the  man  of  sin."  Meanwhile,  ap- 
peal is  made  for  order  in  the  Church,  as  against  the 
work  of  idle  busybodies;  and,  to  prevent  repetition  of 
the  abuse  of  his  name,  Paul  adds  an  autograph  signature, 
which  will  be  a  token  in  future  epistles. 

The  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  in  its  hurried  opening 
reflects  the  spirit  in  which  it  is  written;  what  I  have 
called    the    recognition   here  merges    in   the  doctrinal 


HISTORY   OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT   CHURCH     107 

discussion  —  a  cry  that  the  Galatians  are  marvellously 
falling  away  from  the  doctrine  which  Paul  had  taught 
them  to  quite  another  gospel.  The  trouble  here  is  that 
which,  more  than  anything  else,  it  was  the  lifework  of 
Paul  to  combat :  the  idea  that  the  gospel  of  Christ  must 
be  understood  to  include  the  law  of  Moses,  all  of  which 
was  incumbent  on  the  Gentile  converts.  In  this  epistle 
Paul  first,  in  the  most  solemn  manner  conceivable, 
asserts  that  his  gospel  was  given  him  direct  from  the 
risen  Master  himself;  he  goes  through  his  personal  his- 
tory to  show  that,  not  only  had  he  not  been  influenced 
from  other  sources,  but  more,  the  reputed  "  pillars  of 
the  Church"  had  recognised  him  as  intrusted  with  the 
gospel  of  the  uncircumcision,  just  as  Peter  with  the 
gospel  of  the  circumcision.  He  then  makes  passionate 
appeals  to  the  Gentiles  from  their  own  experience,  their 
conversion  by  faith,  not  by  law;  from  their  personal 
devotion  to  himself;  nay,  from  their  bond  with  Christ, 
seeing  that  receiving  circumcision,  he  declares,  is  sever- 
ance from  Christ.  All  through  these  appeals  the  writer 
is  keeping  up  a  running  fight  with  supposed  defenders 
of  Judaising  Christianity.  Paul  is  urging  the  Galatians 
to  go  right  past  the  Law  to  the  original  faith  of  Abra- 
ham. The  Law  was  no  more  than  an  interim  institution, 
arising  out  of  the  existence  of  transgression,  obtaining 
only  to  the  time  of  the  promised  Messiah;  Law  was  the 
prison  from  which-  faith  is  the  release;  Law  was  the 
attendant  leading  the  child  to  the  teacher,  Christ.  At 
the  close  is  an  appeal  for  caution  in  realising  this  truth: 
the  Christian's  calling  is  for  freedom,  but  freedom  not 
used  as  an  occasion  for  the  flesh. 

In   The  First  Epistle  to  the   Corinthians  we  have  a 


108  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   STORY 

pastoral  epistle  on  the  most  extensive  scale  ;  what  with 
appeals  formally  made  to  the  apostle,  and  information  he 
had  otherwise  received  about  the  church  at  Corinth, 
Paul  has  accumulated  a  large  number  of  matters  calling 
for  discussion.  We  may  divide  the  various  questions 
into  three  classes.1  First,  it  would  appear  that  a  spirit  of 
worldliness  had  invaded  the  Corinthian  church.  This 
manifests  itself  partly  in  the  factions  under  which,  like 
schools  of  philosophy,  the  Corinthians  were  arraying 
themselves ;  whereas  all  spiritual  leaders  were  but 
stewards  who  serve  the  church  in  spiritual  mysteries. 
Again,  it  is  complained  that  disputes  between  members 
of  the  church  are  carried  to  jurisdictions  outside ;  that  a 
case  of  gross  immorality  in  a  member  is  passed  over 
with  toleration.  More  difficult  questions  are  raised  as  to 
relations  between  the  church  and  the  world  without. 
There  is  the  complex  matter  of  marriage  relationships. 
This  Paul  treats  in  the  broad  spirit  of  distinction  between 
law  and  expediency  —  expediency  in  the  highest  sense  : 
the  question  is  not  what  a  man  may  lawfully  do,  but 
what  it  is  good  for  him  to  yield  for  the  interests  of  the 
church.  In  the  same  spirit  is  treated  that  curious  per- 
plexity of  early  Christian  life,  the  fact  that  the  very  food 
purchased  might  have  been  consecrated  in  idol  worship  ; 
Paul  points  out  that,  in  the  field  of  pure  knowledge,  the 
nullity  of  idols  makes  this  consecration  null  and  void,  yet 
Christian  expediency  may  require  that  the  weak  should 
not  be  shocked,  nor  should  association  with  anything 
idolatrous  be  lightly  regarded.  St.  Paul  passes  in  the 
second  place  to  points  of  order  :  to  lesser  points,  and 

1  From   this   point  of  view  the   divisions   of  the   epistle  would   be 
Chapters  i.  6-x ;  xi-xiv  ;  xv. 


HISTORY   OF  THE    NEW    rESTAMENT  CHURCH     109 

especially  to  the  disorder  caused  by  the  very  exuberance 
of  spiritual  gifts  among  the  Corinthians,  producing  com- 
petition and  clashing.  It  is  here  that  he  develops  his 
great  idea  of  the  church  as  an  organism  :  as  different 
members  of  the  body  have  different  degrees  of  honour, 
yet  all  unite  in  the  common  health,  so  the  common  love 
is  beyond  any  spiritual  gifts  ;  yet  of  these,  he  goes  on  to 
say,  the  test  is  edification  of  the  church  and  good  order. 
In  the  third  place,  Paul  has  to  deal  with  what  is  even 
more  fundamental.  The  doctrine  of  the  resurrection 
has  itself  been  denied.  Paul  makes  the  resurrection  of 
Jesus  the  foundation  upon  which  the  whole  Christian 
faith  rests  ;  this  risen  Jesus  is  a  second  Adam,  firstfruits 
of  resurrection  for  all,  as  the  first  Adam  of  the  life  that 
ends  in  death.  From  the  analogy  of  seed  corn  rising  in 
a  changed  form  is  developed  the  thought  of  a  natural 
and  a  spiritual  body;  for  all  —  those  who  have  died  and 
those  who  live  —  corruption  will  put  on  incorruption  : 
so  will  death  be  swallowed  up  in  victory. 

By  the  time  that  The  Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians 
was  written  the  Judaising  controversy  had  infected  that 
church  as  well  as  others.  This,  however,  we  learn  only 
by  inference  from  expressions  of  the  apostle  ;  the  imme- 
diate topic  of  the  epistle  is  still  more  general  and  funda- 
mental, for  the  great  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  has  to  fight 
for  his  pastoral  authority  against  rivals,  who  have  depre- 
ciated him  in  order  to  exalt  themselves  and  their  doc- 
trines. The  distaste  which  every  high-minded  man  feels 
for  self-assertion  in  any  form  gives  colour  to  the  whole 
letter.  The  very  structure  is  affected,  so  that  the  doc- 
trinal discussion  appears  in  two  places.  In  the  first  part 
of  the  epistle,  where  St.  Paul  is  reviewing  his  movements, 


110  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   STORY 

he  has  said  how  his  life  is  a  blessed  march  in  the  trium- 
phal procession  of  Christ ;  the  dominant  thought  of  the 
whole  epistle  causes  him  to  break  off  suddenly  with  the 
question,  Is  this  self-commendation?  This  leads  to  a 
lengthy  digression,  in  which  Paul  distinguishes  between 
glorying  in  himself  and  glorying  in  his  mission.  If  the 
ministry  of  Moses  caused  his  face  to  shine,  what  may 
be  expected  of  that  which  is  itself  a  ministry  of  light? 
Truly  the  treasure  of  light  is  in  earthen  vessels,  and  the 
preachers  of  life  are  being  daily  delivered  to  death;  but 
they  look  from  the  temporary  dissolving  tabernacle  to  the 
permanent  building  in  the  heavens.  When,  later  on,  the 
natural  place  is  reached  for  doctrinal  discussion,1  Paul 
makes  appeal  that  the  Corinthians  shall  recognise  his 
authority,  and  so  save  him  from  having  to  exercise  it 
when  he  comes.  With  many  apologies  and  manifest 
reluctance  he  recites  his  claims  as  a  Hebrew  of  the  He- 
brews,—  claims  based  upon  persecutions  and  upon  won- 
derful revelations,  claims  finally  based  upon  the  ministry 
to  the  Corinthians  themselves,  who  were  served  as  a 
church  inferior  to  no  church,  unless  it  be  inferiority  that 
they  were  served  without  charge.  Thus  the  apostle 
hopes  to  use  authority,  when  he  comes,  to  build  up 
and  not  to  cast  down. 


We  pass  to  the  fourth  and  final  section  of  the  apostolic 
history.  For  the  first  section  the  centre  of  interest  was 
Jerusalem ;  for  the  second  Antioch  ;  for  the  third  the 
large  cities ;  the  centre  of  interest  is  henceforward  trans- 
ferred to  Rome.     While  still  at  Ephesus  Paul  formed  a 

1  Chapter  x.  i. 


HISTORY   OF  THE   NEW   TESTAMENT   CHURCH     111 

plan  to  make  a  tour  of  his  European  churches,  then  to 
visit  Jerusalem,  and  finally  Rome.  As  a  first  instalment 
of  this  plan  he  writes  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans.  This 
must  be  distinguished  from  the  pastoral  epistles  as  being 
rather  an  epistolary  treatise.1  It  has  the  epistolary  super- 
scription, and  a  long  list  of  greetings  to  persons  Paul  had 
met  on  his  travels,  and  who  have  since  settled  in  the 
metropolitan  city.  But  it  is  not  addressed  to  any 
church  ;  it  is  intended  for  general  circulation  among  "  all 
that  are  in  Rome,  beloved  of  God,  called  to  be  saints," 
preparatory  to  a  visit  in  which  the  apostle  hopes  to  do 
for  those  in  Rome  what  he  has  done  elsewhere..  Thus 
he  makes  his  letter  a  treatise  in  which  he  formally  ex- 
pounds that  aspect  of  Christianity  of  which  he  is  the  rec- 
ognised representative.  Perhaps  no  work  ever  written 
has  a  better  title 'to  be  called  world-literature  than  this 
Epistle  to  the  Romans  :  an  exposition  of  the  Christian 
gospel,  specially  designed  to  harmonise  the  thoughts  of 
Hebrews  and  Greeks,  and  addressed  to  the  Rome  that 
had  become  the  mistress  of  both. 

The  theme  may  be  thus  formulated  :  The  gospel  the 
power  of  God ;  to  Jew  and  Greek  alike  ;  as  revealing 
a  righteousness  that  is  by  faith.  Its  exposition  keeps 
two  lines  of  thought  side  by  side.  One  displays  the 
righteousness  that  is  by  faith.  It  advances  by  regular 
steps  :  a  whole  world  (of  Gentile  and  Jew  alike)  brought 
under  the  judgment  of  God  ;  a  righteousness  manifested 
—  apart  from  law,  yet  witnessed  to  by  law  and  prophets 

1  To  the  same  literary  classification  may  be  referred  the  brilliant 
Epistle  to  Hebrews,  addressed  through  a  particular  church  to  Hebrews 
in  general.  Its  purport  is  that  the  Law  must  give  place  to  the  Gospel 
as  to  a  higher  and  fuller  dispensation. 


112  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND    STORY 

—  through  faith  in  Jesus  to  all  without  distinction ;  on 
this  foundation  of  justification  by  faith  a  life  of  salvation, 
by  grace  abounding  more  than  sin  has  abounded  ;  as 
a  climax,  sonship  of  God,  co-heirship  with  Christ,  all 
things  working  together  for  the  believer's  glorification. 
But,  for  a  second  line  of  thought,  side  by  side  with  this 
continually  advancing  argument  St.  Paul,  in  his  own  special 
manner,  keeps  up  a  running  fight  of  answers  to  imaginary 
objections,  all  designed  to  conciliate  those  trained  in 
ideas  of  the  exclusiveness  of  the  Law.  This  part  of  the 
treatise  reaches  its  climax  in  the  contention  that  God's 
ancient  people  have  not  been  cast  off;  they  are  tem- 
porarily hardened  that  the  Gentiles  may  be  grafted  in  ; 
if  then  their  fall  is  the  riches  of  the  world,  what  will  their 
fulness  be  !  Like  the  pastoral  epistles,  the  treatise  con- 
cludes with  solemn  words  of  exhortation. 

As  St.  Paul  proceeds  with  the  plan  he  had  formed,  he 
finds  himself  more  and  more  entangled  in  the  strange 
ways  of  providence.  Everywhere  prophetic  signs  are 
given  him  of  trouble  and  bondage  awaiting  him ;  his 
meetings  with  the  churches  become  a  series  of  sorrow- 
ful farewells.  In  Jerusalem  an  act  of  legal  ritual,  spe- 
cially designed  to  conciliate,  is  misinterpreted,  and  in 
the  popular  tumult  that  follows  Paul  is  arrested.  He 
is  hurried  from  adventure  to  adventure,  from  tribunal 
to  tribunal ;  he  makes  defence  before  the  mob  of  Jeru- 
salem, before  the  council,  before  Roman  governors  and 
King  Agrippa.  Soon  after  his  arrest  a  vision  encourages 
him  with  the  word  that  he  is  destined  to  bear  witness  at 
Rome.  So  after  a  long  period  of  waiting,  and  many 
perils,  the  course  of  providence  fulfils  Paul's  own  pur- 
pose in  a  way  he  had  never  expected,  and  brings  him 


HISTORY   OF   THE   NEW  TESTAMENT   CHURCH     113 

a  state  prisoner  to  Rome.  The  narrative  of  The  Acts 
closes  with  Paul  continuing  to  bear  his  witness  for  Christ 
as  a  prisoner  at  large  :  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  pro- 
claiming the  gospel  of  the  uncircumcision  in  the  metrop- 
olis of  the  Gentile  nations. 

Under  this  imprisonment  in  Rome  Paul  issued  an 
epistolary  manifesto  to  the  Gentile  churches  :  a  circular 
letter,  varied  perhaps  in  a  few  details  for  particular 
churches,  of  which  a  single  copy  has  come  down  to  us 
— The  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians.  Distinct  from  the  pas- 
toral epistles,  which  are  concerned  with  the  govern- 
ment of  the  churches,  the  manifesto  is  rather  an  act  of 
faith  :  not  a  discussion  of  details,  but  a  reassertion  of  the 
Christian  hope  in  all  its  fulness,  coloured  in  its  form  by 
the  particular  circumstances  which  have  called  it  forth. 
Paul  writes  on  the  present  occasion  as  the  prisoner  of 
Christ  Jesus  in  the  cause  of  the  Gentiles :  his  sufferings 
must  be  looked  upon  as  the  Gentiles'  glory ;  his  anxiety 
is  to  emphasise  his  particular  stewardship  in  the  mystery 
of  redemption,  how  that  the  Gentiles  are  fellow-heirs  in 
the  promise  through  Christ.  And  similarly,  when  he  is 
expatiating  upon  the  blessedness  of  Christ's  religion,  he 
makes  prominent  this  blessedness  above  all,  that  those 
who  were  aliens  from  the  commonwealth  of  Israel  have 
become  fellows  in  the  house  and  temple  of  which  Christ 
is  the  chief  corner  stone,  Christ  Jesus  having  broken 
down  the  middle  wall  of  partition,  and  abolished  the  legal 
ordinances  which  were  the  principle  of  antagonism. 
Appeal  is  made  to  walk  worthy  of  such  a  calling,  keeping 
the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace. 

In  this  connection  may  be  read  The  Epistle  to  the 
Colossians.     It  differs  from  the  circular  letter  of  which 


114  BIBLICAL   HISTORY   AND   STORY 

Ephesians  is  the  type,  owing  to  the  special  circumstances 
of  the  body  of  Christians  to  whom  it  is  addressed.  The 
gospel  of  Christ,  as  Paul  understood  it,  had  been  under- 
mined for  the  Colossians  by  a  rival  system  of  faith.  On 
its  speculative  side  this  rival  system  is  reflected  in  a  word 
which  in  the  epistle  seems  to  be  used  as  a  technical 
term  —  the  word  '  fulness.'  Meditation  on  the  awful 
distance  between  God  and  man  had  led  thinkers  to '  fill 
in '  this  interval  with  the  idea  of  a  chain  of  angelic  ema- 
nations. Paul  insists  that  in  Christ  all  the  '  fulness '  of 
the  Father  dwells  :  he  is  the  image  of  God,  firstborn  of 
all  creation,  and  agency  through  whom  all  principalities 
and  dominions  have  been  created.  The  practical  side 
of  the  heresy  was  insistence  upon  ordinances  and  ascetic 
vows:  from  these  Paul  recalls  the  Colossians  to  Christ  as 
all  in  all. 

If  ye  died  with  Christ,  from  the  rudiments  of  the  world,  why, 
as  though  living  in  the  world,  do  ye  subject  yourselves  to 
ordinances  —  Handle  not,  nor  taste,  nor  touch  (all  which 
things  are  to  perish  with  the  using) — after  the  precepts  and 
doctrines  of  men?  .  .  .  Set  your  mind  on  the  things  that  are 
above,  not  on  the  things  that  are  upon  the  earth.  For  ye  died, 
and  your  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God. 

Five  more  letters  stand  in  the  name  of  Paul :  epistles 
to  Philetnon  and  the  Philippians,  two  epistles  to  Timothy, 
and  one  to  Titus.  The  early  church  was  not  a  system 
of  social  revolution,  but  an  imperium  in  imperio :  in  the 
world  of  its  age  without  being  of  it.  Hence  The  Epistle 
to  Philemon  shows  us  Paul  using  his  influence  —  with 
infinite  grace  and  tact  —  to  restore  a  runaway  slave  to 
his  master,  while  he  bids  this  Christian  master  receive 
the  slave  as  a  brother.     Philippians  gives  the  appeal  of 


HISTORY    OF    THE   NEW  TESTAMENT   CHURCH     115 

the  apostle  to  a  body  of  Christians  specially  devoted  to 
him.  In  the  other  three  letters  we  have  a  pioneer  in 
ecclesiastical  organisation  advising  his  younger  associates. 
Speaking  from  the  literary  side  it  is  interesting  to  note 
how  in  some  of  these  epistles  the  literary  quotations, 
instead  of  being  taken  from  the  Old  Testament,  seem  to 
reflect  the  rise  of  a  distinctively  Christian  hymnology. 

He  who  was  manifested  in  the  flesh, 
Justified  in  the  spirit, 

Seen  of  angels, 
Preached  among  the  nations, 
Believed  on  in  the  world, 

Received  up  in  glory.1 
And  again,  — 

For  if  we  died  with  him, 

We  shall  also  live  with  him; 
If  we  endure, 

We  shall  also  reign  with  him; 
If  we  shall  deny  him, 

He  also  will  deny  us; 
If  we  are  faithless, 

He  abideth  faithful, 
For  he  cannot  deny  himself.2 

These  five  epistles  are  full  of  interest  in  reflecting  the 
routine  of  early  Church  history  and  work.  They  do  not 
however  lead  us  to  any  landmark  in  the  expansion  of  the 
New  Testament  Church. 

Three  more  letters,  connected  with  the  names  of  St. 
Peter  and  St.  Jude,  may  be  classed  with  what  I  have 
called  the  epistolary  manifesto.  They  do  not  present  an 
apostle  in  his  intercourse  with  a  particular  church,  nor 
do   they    discuss   details    of    ecclesiastical    organisation. 

1  /  Timothy  iii.  16.  2  //  Timothy  ii.  II, 


Uft  BIBLICAL    HISTORY    AND    STORY 

They  are  passionate  reassertions  of  the  fundamental 
Christian  faith,  in  the  face  of  emergencies,  but  emergen- 
cies which  are  general  and  wide-reaching  in  their  char- 
acter. Persecution  belongs  to  all  the  history  of  the  early 
church ;  but  the  exigency  which  has  called  forth  The 
First  Epistle  of  St.  Peter  is  an  overpowering  outburst  of 
persecution,  a  "  fiery  trial  "  which  has  shaken  the  churches 
to  their  foundations.  Against  this  background  St.  Peter 
recites  the  living  hope  restored  through  the  resurrection 
of  Jesus  to  the  faithful,  while  they  are  being  guarded  to 
their  final  salvation  ;  he  exhorts  to  the  attitude  of  pilgrims 
and  strangers  in  the  persecuting  world,  to  sobriety,  holi- 
ness, love,  patience  ;  suffering  must  not  be  thought  a 
strange  thing  for  those  who  are  called  to  be  partakers  of 
the  sufferings  of  Christ.  The  other  two  epistles  repre- 
sent a  phase  of  Church  history  in  which  the  new  religion 
has  to  struggle,  not  with  speculative  heresies,  but  with  a 
deep-seated  corruption,  an  antinomianism  that  is  turning 
the  grace  of  God  into  lasciviousness.  The  corrupters  are 
false  prophets  — 

—  creatures  without  reason,  born  mere  animals,  to  be  taken 
and  destroyed,  railing  in  matters  whereof  they  are  ignorant 
.  .  .  men  that  count  it  pleasure  to  revel  in  the  daytime,  spots 
and  blemishes,  revelling  in  their  love-feasts  while  they  feast 
with  you;  having  eyes  full  of  adultery,  and  that  cannot  cease 
from  sin;  enticing  unstedfast  souls  .  .  .  uttering  great  swelling 
words  of  vanity  they  entice  in  the  lusts  of  the  flesh,  by  lascivi- 
ousness, those  who  are  just  escaping  from  them  that  live  in 
error;  promising  them  liberty,  while  they  themselves  are  bond- 
servants of  corruption. 

Against  corruption  of  this  type  the  epistles  contend  for 
"  the  faith  which  was  once  for  all  delivered  unto  the 
saints."     There  is  further  one  note  in  common  through 


HISTORY   OF  THE   NEW  TESTAMENT  CHURCH     117 

all  three  letters  :  the  sense  of  immediateness  with  which 
the  coming  of  Christ  is  expected.  St.  Peter  insists  that 
the  end  of  all  things  is  at  hand ;  the  fiery  trial  is  inter- 
preted to  mean  that  judgment  is  beginning  at  the  house 
of  God.  The  epistles  that  attack  antinomianism  recog- 
nise the  corrupting  prophets  as  the  mockers  foretold  for 
"the  last  days,"  who  say,  "Where  is  the  promise  of  his 
coming?  for,  from  the  day  that  the  fathers  fell  asleep, 
all  things  continue  as  they  were  from  the  beginning  of 
the  creation."  But,  it  is  insisted,  the  day  of  the  Lord  will 
come  as  a  thief;  the  faithful  are  exhorted  to  build  them- 
selves up  on  their  most  holy  faith,  looking  for  the  mercy 
of  Christ  unto  eternal  life. 

We  have  thus  briefly  reviewed  The  History  of  the  New 
Testament  Church  as  Presented  by  Itself.  So  long  as 
the  Master  remained  upon  earth,  whether  moving  about 
his  own  Galilee,  or  steadfastly  journeying  to  Jerusalem, 
or  contending  with  the  rulers  of  society  in  the  sacred 
capital,  the  circle  around  his  bodily  presence  represented 
the  visible  church.  To  this  circle  his  last  words  prom- 
ised his  presence,  while  it  imposed  the  duty  of  proclaiming 
the  glad  tidings  to  all  nations.  From  the  miraculous 
signal  of  Pentecost  the  work  was  begun.  At  first  around 
the  apostles  was  gathered  a  simple  fellowship  for  prayer 
and  mutual  comfort.  Soon  fresh  miraculous  signals 
opened  up  undreamed-of  extension :  the  '  new  way ' 
among  the  Jews  must  enlarge  itself  to  admit  Gentiles ; 
Europe  clamoured  for  help  from  Asia.  We  see  the 
missionary  journey  instituted  to  meet  the  growing  expan- 
sion, building  up  a  church  out  of  churches  ;  the  mission- 
ary epistle  appears  as  a  medium  in  which  may  be  traced 
the  expanding  thought.     For  a  time  we  hav§  a  band  of 


118  BIBLICAL    HISTORY   AND    STORY 

converts  careless  as  to  things  earthly,  concerned  only 
about  the  speedy  coming  of  Christ.  They  are  recalled 
to  earth  by  the  struggle  between  the  two  elements  within 
their  fellowship ;  from  a  tender  toleration  of  Gentile 
brethren,  who  shrink  from  the  full  rigour  of  Mosaic  law, 
we  see  gradually  developed  the  conception  of  a  righteous- 
ness by  faith  to  which  the  dispensation  of  law  was  but  a 
preparatory  stage.  Persecution  from  without,  struggle 
and  rivalry  within,  are  seen  as  forces  under  the  stress  of 
which  are  gradually  worked  out  principles  of  Christian 
truth  and  order.  Three  epistles  (whatever  their  chrono- 
logical dates  may  be)  show  us  once  more  a  church 
excited  with  the  sense  that  the  end  of  all  things  is  at 
hand,  and  asserting  the  original  faith  against  fiery  perse- 
cution and  paralysing  corruption.  At  this  point  —  with 
evangelisation  carried  to  the  Roman  centre  of  the  world, 
with  the  evangel  itself  developed  into  a  theology  and  an 
ecclesiastical  system  —  the  history  of  Christianity  passes 
out  of  canonical  into  secular  literature. 


Part  Second 

BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND   PROSE 


IV.  Poetry  and  Prose  in  the  Bible 

V.  Old  Testament  Wisdom 

VI.  New  Testament  Wisdom 

VII.  Lyric  Poetry  of  the  Bible 

VIII.  Prophecy  as  a  Branch  of  Literature 

IX.  Old  Testament  Prophecy 

X.  New  Testament  Prophecy 


CHAPTER    IV 

POETRY  AND  PROSE  IN  THE  BIBLE 

We  have  reached  a  point  at  which  it  becomes  neces- 
sary to  form  clear  ideas  as  to  certain  literary  terms, 
which  are  among  the  commonest  words  in  our  language, 
in  reference  to  which,  nevertheless,  great  confusion  of 
thought  prevails.  I  refer  more  particularly  to  the  words 
'poetry'  and  'prose.'  It  is  not  difficult  to  see  how  the 
confusion  has  come  about.  The  fluctuations  of  language 
have  obliged  the  word  'prose  '  to  do  double  duty:  there 
is  the  prose  which  contrasts  with  poetry,  and  there  is 
the  prose  which  contrasts  with  verse.  It  is  thus  not 
unnatural  that  to  many  minds  poetry  and  verse  should 
suggest  much  the  same  thing.  In  reality,  however,  the 
terms  'poetry  '  and  '  prose  '  convey  the  most  fundamental 
of  all  distinctions  in  literary  form;  the  terms  'prose  '  and 
'  verse  '  relate  only  to  a  difference  of  style  that  lies  on  the 
surface  of  literature. 

For  the  meaning  of  the  word  'poetry'  etymology 
comes  to  our  aid.  '  Poet '  is  the  Greek  for ' maker  ' ;  and 
in  Old  English  'makers  '  was  the  regular  name  for  poets. 
From  the  Latin  come  two  more  similar  terms:  'crea- 
tive' literature  and  'fiction.'  All  four  words  imply  the 
same  idea :  the  poet,  the  maker,  the  author  of  creative 
literature  or  fiction,  is  one  who  makes,  who  creates 
something,  who  adds  to  the  sum  of  existences.  Shake- 
speare and  Sophocles  are  poets  in  virtue  of  their  having 

121 


122  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

created  a  Hamlet,  an  CEdipUS.  It  does  not  follow  that 
in  actual  history  a  similar  Hamlet  and  CEdipus  may  not 
have  existed.  But  the  imaginative  faculties  to  which 
poetry  appeals  have  a  wider  range  than  that  limited  by 
past  history;  whether  therefore  it  conceives  entirely  new 
persons  and  incidents,  or  whether  it  works  up  existing 
persons  and  incidents  in  a  way  that  makes  an  inde- 
pendent appeal  to  our  minds,  in  both  cases  poetry  may 
be  said  to  create.  The  poet  is  thus  man's  nearest 
approach  to  the  Divine  Maker  and  Creator  of  the  uni- 
verse; and  this  is  perhaps  St.  Paul's  thought  when  he 
says  to  the  Ephesians,  "We  are  God's  —  workmanship  "  : 
so  the  English  version  has  it ;  but  the  original  Greek 
says,  "  We  are  God's  poem."  The  medium  in  which  the 
poet's  conception  is  expressed  is  of  secondary  impor- 
tance. Large  parts  of  Shakespeare's  plays  —  as  a  glance 
at  the  text  will  show  —  are  in  prose;  yet  obviously 
Shakespeare  is  as  much  a  poet  in  his  prose  scenes  as  in 
the  scenes  which  are  written  in  verse.  If  it  be  true  that 
we  commonly  describe  by  the  term  'fiction  '  the  creative 
literature  which  is  expressed  in  prose,  this  is  merely  a 
matter  of  usage,  and  involves  no  difference  of  meaning. 
In  contradistinction  to  such  creative  poetry  'prose 
literature  '  is  limited  by  matter  of  fact  and  actual  exist- 
ence. The  historian,  the  philosopher,  the  orator, 
depart  from  their  proper  function  if  they  allow  imagi- 
nary matter  to  mingle  in  their  discussion  with  matter 
of  fact;  the  singer,  the  author  of  drama  and  epic,  are 
poets  just  in  proportion  as  they  rise  above  the  limita- 
tions of  fact.  To  truth  poetry  and  prose  alike  own 
allegiance;  prose  reaches  truth  by  discussion,  poetry 
by  illustration.     The  philosopher  argues  what  goodness 


POETRY   AND    PROSE   IN  THE   BIBLE  123 

is;  the  dramatist  creates  a  good  man:  both  are  helping 
us  to  be  good. 

The  application  of  this  distinction  to  biblical  litera- 
ture is  of  great  importance.  It  is  common  to  speak  of 
Isaiah  as  a  great  poet;  but  many  plersons- — commen- 
tators as  well  as  readers — seem  to  understand  this  to 
mean  merely  that  Isaiah  has  given  us  sermons  in  verse, 
adorned  no  doubt  with  abundance  of  poetic  imagery  and 
diction.  But  poetic  imagery  and  diction  may  be  used 
in  oratory,  and  the  distinction  between  verse  and  ora- 
torical flow  of  sentences  is  a  comparatively  small  matter. 
As  a  fact,  The  Book  of  Isaiah,  and  other  portions  of 
Scripture,  include  poetry  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  term : 
imaginative  scenes  used  as  a  vehicle  to  convey  truth.  He 
who  framed  the  parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son  was  not 
limited  in  his  details  to  what  happened  to  have  actually 
occurred.  For  the  dramatic  parable  of  Job,  just  as  for 
Shakespeare's  Hamlet,  there  was  no  doubt  a  basis  of 
historic  fact;  but  neither  the  play  nor  The  Book  of  Job 
is  in  any  way  limited  by  that  historic  germ.  Solomon'' s 
Song  is  just  as  much  a  piece  of  creative  literature  as 
Romeo  and  Juliet.  In  The  Book  of  Joel  prophetic  truth 
is  conveyed  by  means  of  imaginary  scenes  —  pictures  of 
a  whole  people  with  its  varied  classes  of  men  united  in 
panic-stricken  lamentation,  of  a  mysterious  catastrophe 
advancing  in  rapid  stages,  of  sudden  relief,  happy  res- 
toration, progress  to  a  final  judgment  for  all  nations 
—  precisely  in  the  same  way  as  in  Milton  imaginary 
scenes  of  Heaven,  Hell,  and  Eden  are  used  in  justifying 
the  ways  of  God  to  men.  Whether  the  visions  of  Zecha- 
riah  came  into  the  prophet's  mind  in  just  the  same  way 
as  other  visions  came  into  the  mind  of  the  poet  Dante  is 


124  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND   PROSE 

a  question  for  theologians :  but  in  both  cases  alike  the 
visions  stand  as  creative  pictures  from  which  truth  is  to 
be  interpreted.  The  reader,  then,  who  would  under- 
stand the  books  of  Isaiah  and  other  prophets  must  be 
prepared  to  find,  not  only  sermons  in  verse,  but  also  the 
poetry  of  imagination  and  symbolic  drama. 

Coming  to  the  distinction  between  'prose  '  and  'verse,' 
we  may  note  a  difference  between  the  verse  system  of 
Hebrew  and  other  languages  with  which  the  reader  may 
be  familiar.  In  English,  or  French,  or  German,  verse 
is  made  by  the  number  of  syllables  in  a  line,  or  by 
rhyme.  In  Latin  and  Greek  the  verse  depends  upon 
what  is  called  the  'quantity  '  of  particular  syllables.  The 
Old  English  verse  was  constituted  by  'alliteration'  — 
the  recurrence  in  a  line  of  similar  sounds :  — 

In  a  corner  seson  whan  soft  was  the  jonne, 
I  s/iope  me  in  j/^roudes  as  I  a  s/ieve  were. 

In  Hebrew  the  foundation  of  verse  is  a  recurrence,  not 
of  sounds,  but  of  parallel  clauses :  — 

The  Lord  of  hosts  is  with  us  : 
The  God  of  Jacob  is  our  refuge. 

He  maketh  wars  to  cease  unto  the  end  of  the  earth : 
He  breaketh  the  bow  and  cutteth  the  spear  in  sunder; 
He  burneth  the  chariots  in  the  fire. 

Each  of  these  is  a  'verse, '  not  in  virtue  of  any  number 
of  syllables,  but  because  the  ear  catches  —  what  the  sense 
confirms  —  that  we  have,  in  the  first  case  two,  in  the 
second  case  three  clauses,  which  run  parallel  with  one 
another. 

How    entirely    dependent    biblical    verse    is    upon 


POETRY   AND    PROSE    IX   THE    BIBLE  125 

parallelism  of  clauses  may  be  tested  by  a  simple  experi- 
ment. Let  the  reader  open  a  Bible  (Revised  Version), 
say,  at  the  twenty-third  chapter  of  The  Book  of  Numbers  : 
his  eye  will  catch  certain  passages  which  stand  out  as 
verse  amid  a  general  course  of  prose.  Let  him  com- 
mence at  verse  eight,  and  read  on,  omitting  every  alter- 
nate line :  what  he  reads  will  make  complete  sense,  and 
will  be  good  prose. 

How  shall  I  curse  whom  God  hath  not  cursed?  For  from 
the  top  of  the  rocks  I  see  him :  lo,  it  is  a  people  that  dwell 
alone.  Who  can  count  the  dust  of  Jacob  ?  Let  me  die  the 
death  of  the  righteous  ! 

Let  him  read  a  second  time,  putting  in  the  lines  omitted  : 
the  prose  will  have  risen  into  verse. 

How  shall  I  curse  whom  God  hath  not  cursed  ? 

And  how  shall  I  defy  whom  the  Lord  hath  not  defied  ? 
For  from  the  top  of  the  rocks  I  see  him, 

And  from  the  hills  I  behold  him  : 
Lo,  it  is  a  people  that  dwell  alone, 

And  shall  not  be  reckoned  among  the  nations. 
Who  can  count  the  dust  of  Jacob, 

Or  number  the  fourth  part  of  Israel  ? 
Let  me  die  the  death  of  the  righteous, 

And  let  my  last  end  be  like  his  ! 

It  is  easy  to  see  how,  when  each  clause  is  supported  by 
a  second  clause  saying  the  same  thing  in  different  words, 
the  sense  of  the  whole  sentence  is  kept  suspended,  so 
to  speak,  with  a  poise  of  thought,  which  differs  from 
straightforward  prose  as  the  step  of  a  dance  differs  from 
the  step  of  a  walk. 

A  verse  system  that  rests  upon  parallelism  of  clauses 
is  capable  of  just  the  same  elaborations  that  prevail  in 


126  BIBLICAL    POETRY   AND    PROSE 

other  systems  of  verse.  Figures  of  parallelism  are  found 
that  are  counterparts  to  the  *  stanzas  '  of  our  hymn  books. 
Sometimes  a  biblical  hymn  is  made  up  of  very  simple 
stanzas. 

Make  a  joyful  noise  unto  the  Lord,  all  ye  lands. 

Serve  the  Lord  with  gladness : 

Come  before  his  presence  with  singing. 

Know  ye  that  the  Lord  he  is  God : 

It  is  he  that  hath  made  us,  and  we  are  his  ; 

We  are  his  people,  and  the  sheep  of  his  pasture. 

Enter  into  his  gates  with  thanksgiving, 

And  into  his  courts  with  praise  : 

Give  thanks  unto  him,  and  bless  his  name. 

For  the  Lord  is  good; 

His  mercy  endureth  for  ever; 

And  his  faithfulness  unto  all  generations. 

Sometimes  the  stanzas  are  very  elaborate,  as  in  the 
opening  of  Ecclesiasticus. 

All  wisdom  cometh  from  the  Lord, 
And  is  with  him  for  ever. 

The  sand  of  the  seas, 
And  the  drops  of  rain ; 
And  the  days  of  eternity,  who  shall  number? 
The  height  of  the  heaven, 
And  the  breadth  of  the  earth,  and  the  deep, 
And  wisdom,  who  shall  search  them  out? 
Wisdom  hath  been  created  before  all  things, 
And  the  understanding  of  prudence  from  everlasting. 

To  whom  hath  the  root  of  wisdom  been  revealed? 
And  who  hath  known  her  shrewd  counsels? 
There  is  one  wise, 
Greatly  to  be  feared, 
The  Lord  sitting  upon  his  throne : 
He  created  her, 


POETRY    AND    PROSE   IN  THE   BIBLE  127 

And  saw  and  numbered  her, 
And  poured  her  out  upon  all  his  works. 
She  is  with  all  flesh  according  to  his  gift; 
And  he  gave  her  freely  to  them  that  love  him. 

Biblical  verse,  like  the  verse  of  other  great  literatures, 
produces  effects  of  beauty  by  rhythmic  changes,  or  by 
recurrence  of  clauses  in  'refrains,'  or  by  other  musical 
devices. 

They  wandered  in  the  wilderness  in  a  desert  way; 

They  found  no  city  of  habitation  : 

Hungry  and  thirsty, 

Their  soul  fainted  in  them. 

Then  they  cried  unto  the  LORD  in  their  trouble, 
And  he  delivered  them  out  of  their  distresses. 
He  led  them  also  by  a  straight  way, 
That  they  might  go  to  a  city  of  habitation. 

Oh  that  men  would  praise  the  LORD  for  his  goodness, 

And  for  his  wonderful  works  to  the  children  of 

MEN  ! 

For  he  satisfieth  the  longing  soul, 

And  the  hungry  soul  he  filleth  with  good. 

Such  as  sat  in  darkness  and  in  the  shadow  of  death, 
Being  bound  in  affliction  and  iron; 
Because  they  rebelled  against  the  words  of  God, 
And  contemned  the  counsel  of  the  Most  High : 
Therefore  he  brought  down  their  heart  with  labuur : 
They  fell  down,  and  there  was  none  to  help. 

Then  they  cried  unto  the  LORD  in  their  trouble, 

And  he  saved  them  out  of  their  distresses. 

He  brought  them  out  of  darkness  and  the  shadow  of 
death, 

And  brake  their  bonds  in  sunder. 
oh  that  men  would  praise  the  lord  for  his  goodness, 
And  for  his  wonderful  works  to  the  children  of  men  ! 
For  he  hath  broken  the  gates  of  brass, 
And  cut  the  bars  of  iron  in  sunder. 


128  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND   PROSE 

Later  in  the  same  (hundred  and  seventh)  psalm  we  have 
illustrated  a  rhythmic  effect  almost  peculiar  to  biblical 
verse:  the  'pendulum  figure,'  in  which  the  thought  sways 
between  one  and  the  other  of  two  ideas — in  this  case 
between  judgment  and  mercy  —  like  the  crescendo  and 
diminuendo  of  music. 

He  turneth  rivers  into  a  wilderness, 

And  watersprings  into  a  thirsty  ground, 

A  fruitful  land  into  a  salt  desert, 

For  the  wickedness  of  them  that  dwell  therein. 

He  turneth  a  wilderness  into  a  pool  of  water, 

And  a  dry  land  into  watersprings, 

And  there  he  maketh  the  hungry  to  dwell, 

That  they  may  prepare  a  city  of  habitation; 

And  sow  fields,  and  plant  vineyards, 

And  get  them  fruits  of  increase. 

He  blesseth  them  also  so  that  they  are  multiplied  greatly; 

And  he  suffereth  not  their  cattle  to  decrease. 

Again  they  are  minished  and  bowed  down, 

Through  oppression,  trouble,  and  sorrow, 

He  poureth  contempt  upon  princes, 

And  causeth  them  to  wander  in  the  waste,  where  there  is  no  way. 

Yet  setteth  he  the  needy  on  high  from  affliction, 
And  maketh  him  families  like  a  flock. 
The  upright  shall  see  it,  and  be  glad; 
And  all  iniquity  shall  stop  her  mouth. 

But  I  do  not  propose  in  this  work  to  go  farther  into 
the  niceties  of  biblical  verse.  For  those  who  are  inter- 
ested in  literary  technicalities  I  have  discussed  the 
subject  elsewhere.1     For  the  more   general  reader   the 

1  In  my  Literary  Study  of  the  Bible  [2d  edition],  Appendix  III. 


POETRY   AND    PROSE   IN  THE   BIBLE  129 

essential  thing  is  that  the  verse  structure  should  be 
represented  to  the  eye  by  proper  printing  of  the  text. 
Where  this  is  done,  further  explanation  is  superfluous; 
where  structural  arrangement  is  wanting,  no  amount  of 
explanation  is  likely  to  be  of  much  avail. 


CHAPTER   V 

OLD   TESTAMENT    WISDOM 

We  now  approach  an  interesting  branch  of  sacred 
literature  which  is  known  by  the  name  of  'wisdom.'  It 
corresponds  to  the  philosophy  of  other  literatures.  But 
there  is  a  reason  for  the  difference  of  name.  Philoso- 
phy, in  its  simplest  sense,  is  meditation  on  things  in 
general,  as  distinct  from  history  which  describes  things 
or  events,  and  oratory  which  appeals  to  a  particular 
audience.  But  in  the  philosophy  of  the  Greeks,  and  the 
modern  philosophies  which  succeeded  to  it,  the  medita- 
tion soon  became  a  craving  for  explanation  of  things 
around  us;  the  attempted  explanation  broadened  and 
broadened,  until  philosophy  came  to  mean  the  reduction 
of  all  things  to  a  unity  or  single  scheme.  Sacred  phi- 
losophy has  a  great  deal  in  common  with  this;  but 
throughout  its  whole  course  its  thinkers  made  promi- 
nent, what  elsewhere  belonged  only  to  an  early  stage 
of  philosophy,  the  idea  of  meditation  with  a  direct  view 
to  right  conduct.      Hence  the  name  'wisdom.' 

Every  reader  will  feel  that  there  is  a  difference  of 
spirit  between  wisdom  literature  and  other  parts  of  the 
Bible.  The  prophets  give  out  what  they  say  as  a  direct 
Divine  message:  "Thus  saith  the  Lord."  The  books 
of  the  law  contain  what  "the  Lord  said  unto  Moses." 
Bible    history  is  an  account  of  God's  dealing  with  the 

130 


OLD  TESTAMENT   WISDOM  131 

nation  of  his  choice.  Sacred  poetry  is  largely  asso- 
ciated with  actual  worship  of  God.  The  wise  men,  on 
the  other  hand,  only  profess  to  be  giving  us  the  result 
of  their  own  meditation  on  human  life:  they  have  been 
called,  to  distinguish  them  from  other  sacred  writers, 
1  humanists.'  To  say  this,  of  course,  is  not  to  deny  that 
wisdom  literature  is  part  of  the  'Divine  revelation' 
which  the  churches  recognise  as  contained  in  the  Bible; 
all  that  is  implied  is  that  in  their  literary  form  the  say- 
ings of  the  wise  contain  no  such  claim  to  immediate 
Divine  authority.  The  speakers  are  simply  observers 
of  life  and  the  world :  and  the  word  (  Observation  '  fur- 
nishes a  keynote  for  the  whole  study  of  wisdom  literature. 
This  idea  of  'observation'  gives  us  at  once  a  basis 
upon  which  to  arrange  the  different  books  of  wisdom 
with  a  view  to  connected  study.  What  I  have  in  mind 
is  not  the  chronological  order  in  which  the  books  were 
produced:  that  is  a  separate  question,  and  belongs  to 
the  history  of  Hebrew  literature.  But  the  productions 
of  the  wise  men  may  be  arranged  in  a  literary  sequence, 
which  is  highly  suggestive  and  important.  It  turns 
upon  a  distinction  between  two  different  kinds  of  wis- 
dom, according  as  the  observation  which  wisdom  im- 
plies is  directed  upon  the  parts,  or  the  whole,  of  life 
and  the  external  universe.  The  two  may  be  called  the 
lower  and  the  higher  wisdom.  Or,  they  may  be  dis- 
tinguished as  wisdo??i  and  Wisdom :  the  capital  letter 
indicates  how  the  biblical  thinkers,  when  they  contem- 
plate the  universe  as  a  whole,  fall  into  the  poetical  form 
of  personification,  and  indeed  often  express  their  sense 
of  the  harmony  reigning  through  all  things  by  the  use  of 
a  personal  pronoun  :  — 


132  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

To  the  light  of  day  succeedeth  night,  but  against  Wisdom 
evil  doth  not  prevail,  but  she  reacheth  from  one  end  of  the 
world  to  the  other  with  full  strength,  and  ordereth  all  things 
graciously.1 

First,  we  have  wisdom  literature  in  its  stage  of  calm. 
Here  observation,  properly  so  called,  is  directed  solely 
to  the  details  of  life,  and  we  get  disconnected  sayings 
on  human  conduct  and  experience.  When,  at  this  stage, 
the  wise  turn  their  thoughts  to  life  and  the  universe  as 
a  whole,  observation  gives  place  to  adoration  of  the 
Wisdom  that  reigns  through  all  things.  Thus  miscel- 
lanies of  wisdom  in  the  lower  sense  of  the  term,  com- 
bined with  hymns  of  adoration  to  supreme  Wisdom, 
make  up  this  first  type  of  philosophy.  It  includes 
the  biblical  Proverbs  and  apocryphal  Ecclesiasticus. 

The  book  entitled  Ecclcsiastes  marks  the  point  where 
at  last  observation  and  analysis  are  turned  upon  life  and 
the  external  universe  as  a  whole.  But  this  attempt  of 
philosophy  to  read  the  meaning  of  all  things  breaks 
down  in  failure  and  despair:  the  term  '  Wisdom  '  disap- 
pears from  this  book,  and  in  its  place  we  have  reiterated 
the  word  'Vanity,'  to  express  how  existence  is  found 
'empty'  of  all  meaning.  This  however  does  not  pre- 
vent the  book  from  being  full  of  wisdom  in  the  other 
sense  of  the  word;  it  is  a  storehouse  of  miscellaneous 
reflections  on  details  of  life  and  conduct. 

Beyond  this  stage  philosophy  finds  a  later  triumph 
when  the  universe  to  be  observed  is  enlarged  by  the  idea 
of  a  world  beyond  the  grave.  With  this  change  of  view 
the  'Wisdom'  reigning  through  all  things  reappears; 
from  despair  we  return  to  the  tone  of  adoration,  and 

1  Wisdom  viii.  i. 


OLD   TESTAMENT    WISDOM  133 

the  closest  observation  and  analysis  reveals  in  all  things 
an  ordered  scheme  of  providence.  This  stage  is  repre- 
sented by  the  (apocryphal)  work  which  has  for  title, 
T7i£  Wisdom  of  Solomon. 

So  far  all  the  works  mentioned  belong  to  the  literature 
of  contemplation,  in  which  the  thinker  seems  to  stand 
apart  from  life,  and  consider  it  from  outside.  In  The 
Book  of  Job  we  are  confronted  with  an  actual  crisis 
of  real  experience,  and  various  speakers  placed  in  the 
midst  of  it  seek  to  interpret  the  meaning  of  this  crisis 
while  it  is  still  happening.  Thus  different  attitudes  of 
mind  toward  supreme  questions  of  Wisdom  are  here 
represented  in  the  different  personages  of  a  drama,  and 
drawn  together  by  a  dramatic  plot.  The  Book  of  Job  is 
Wisdom  Dramatised :  this  crowning  work  of  Old  Testa- 
ment philosophy  serves  also  to  present  the  other  philo- 
sophical books  in  their  mutual  relations. 

I  propose  to  review  these  works  in  the  literary  sequence 
in  which  we  have  thus  seen  them  placed.  It  may  be 
convenient  however,  at  this  point,  to  indicate  to  the 
reader,  in  the  briefest  manner,  the  various  literary  forms 
in  which  he  will  find  biblical  wisdom  expressing  itself. 

There  is  first  the  familiar  Proverb  :  a  couplet  or  triplet 
of  parallel  verse. 

He  that  oppresseth  the  poor  reproacheth  his  Maker : 
But  he  that  hath  mercy  on  the  needy  honoureth  Him. 

As  one  that  taketh  off  a  garment  in  cold  weather, 
And  as  vinegar  upon  nitre, 
So  is  he  that  singeth  songs  to  an  heavy  heart. 

The  Proverb  enlarges  into  the  verse  Epigram  :  the  two 
lines  of  the  couplet  text  are  supported  by  other  lines  ex- 
plaining or  enforcing. 


134  BIBLICAL    POETRY   AND    PROSE 

Hear  thou,  my  son,  and  be  wise, 

And  guide  thine  heart  in  the  way. 

Be  not  among  winebibbers; 

Among  gluttonous  eaters  of  flesh  : 
For  the  drunkard  and  the  glutton  shall  come  to  poverty; 
And  drowsiness  shall  clothe  a  man  with  rags.1 

It  is  plain  that  the  real  text  of  this  epigram  is  found  in 
the  last  couplet,  up  to  which  the  rest  is  leading. 

The  most  extended  of  the  verse  forms  found  in  wis- 
dom literature  is  that  which  may  be  called  the  Sonnet. 
The  proper  meaning  of  this  term  is  a  form  of  poetry  in 
which,  so  to  speak,  the  thought  is  poured  into  a  given 
mould  of  verse.  In  the  most  familiar  modern  literature 
only  one  such  mould  of  verse  is  used  for  the  sonnet ; 
namely,  a  series  of  fourteen  lines,  arranged  in  a  particular 
order.  But  biblical  sonnets  fall  into  a  great  variety  of 
moulds,  the  only  thing  common  to  them  all  being  a 
highly  elaborate  parallelism  of  lines.  For  example,  I 
may  point  out  how  the  thought  which  was  the  text  of  the 
epigram  quoted  above  reappears  in  another  poem  as 
part  of  a  sonnet. 

THE  FIELD   OF  THE  SLOTHFUL2 

I  went  by  the  field  of  the  slothful, 

And  by  the  vineyard  of  the  man  void  of  understanding; 
And,  lo,  it  was  all  grown  over  with  thorns, 
The  face  thereof  was  covered  with  nettles, 
And  the  stone  wall  thereof  was  broken  down. 

Then  I  beheld, 

And  considered  well : 

I  saw, 

And  received  instruction. 
"  Yet  a  little  sleep, 

1  Proverbs  xxiii.  19-21.  2  Proverbs  xxiv.  30. 


OLD   TESTAMENT   WISDOM  135 

A  little  slumber, 

A  little  folding  of  the  hands  to  sleep  "  — 
So  shall  thy  poverty  come  as  a  robber, 
And  thy  want  as  an  armed  man. 

The  eye  catches  from  the  printed  page  the  symmetry 
between  the  different  parts  of  such  a  sonnet ;  and  the 
sense  will  be  found  to  harmonise  with  the  symmetry  of 
the  form.  This  is  one  of  the  shortest  of  wisdom  sonnets  : 
many  of  the  poems  so  named  are  of  great  length  and 
elaborateness. 

There  remain  two  more  forms  of  wisdom  literature. 
What  the  Epigram  is  in  verse,  the  Maxim  is  in  prose  :  a 
proverb  (or  proverb  abbreviated)  makes  a  text  for  a 
brief  comment  in  prose. 

A  merchant  shall  hardly  keep  himself  from  wrong-doing  ; 
And  a  huckster  shall  not  be  acquitted  of  sin. 

Many  have  sinned  for  a  thing  indifferent;  and  he  that  seek- 
eth  to  multiply  gain  will  turn  his  eye  away.  A  nail  will  stick 
fast  between  the  joinings  of  stones;  and  sin  will  force  itself  in 
between  buying  and  selling.1 

Perhaps  the  most  important  of  all  the  literary  forms  into 
which  scriptural  philosophy  falls  is  the  Essay.  Ecclesi- 
asticus  is  a  great  storehouse  of  essay  literature.  The 
wisdom  essays  are  not  the  lengthy  discussions  called  by 
that  name  in  the  more  modern  literature,  but  are  closely 
analogous  to  the  essays  of  Bacon  and  his  school.  They 
consist  of  a  collection  of  pithy  thoughts  :  disconnected, 
except  that  they  all  bear  upon  a  single  topic,  which 
becomes  the  title  of  the  essay.  With  an  illustration  of 
the  shorter  essays  in  Ecclesiasticus  I  will  conclude  this 
review  of  the  principal  forms  of  wisdom  literature. 

1  Ecclesiasticus  xxvi.  29. 


136  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND   PROSE 


FRIENDSHIP  i 

Sweet  words  will  multiply  a  man's  friends,  and  a  fair-speak- 
ing tongue  will  multiply  courtesies.  Let  those  that  are  at 
peace  with  thee  be  many;  but  thy  counsellors  one  of  a  thou- 
sand. If  thou  wouldest  get  thee  a  friend,  get  him  by  proving, 
and  be  not  in  haste  to  trust  him.  For  there  is  a  friend  that  is 
so  for  his  own  occasion,  and  he  will  not  continue  in  the  day  of 
thy  affliction.  And  there  is  a  friend  that  turneth  to  enmity, 
and  he  will  discover  strife  to  thy  reproach.  And  there  is  a 
friend  that  is  a  companion  at  the  table,  and  he  will  not  continue 
in  the  day  of  thy  affliction :  and  in  thy  prosperity  he  will  be  as 
thyself,  and  will  be  bold  over  thy  servants;  if  thou  shalt  be 
brought  low,  he  will  be  against  thee,  and  will  hide  himself  from 
thy  face.  Separate  thyself  from  thine  enemies;  and  beware 
of  thy  friends.  A  faithful  friend  is  a  strong  defence;  and  he 
that  hath  found  him  hath  found  a  treasure.  There  is  nothing 
that  can  be  taken  in  exchange  for  a  faithful  friend;  and  his 
excellency  is  beyond  price.  A  faithful  friend  is  a  medicine  of 
life;  and  they  that  fear  the  Lord  shall  find  him.  He  that 
feareth  the  Lord  directeth  his  friendship  aright;  for  as  he  is, 
so  is  his  neighbour  also. 


Sacred  Wisdom  in  its  Stage  of  Philosophic  Calm.     Books 
of  Proverb s  and  Ecclesiasticus 

The  portion  of  wisdom  literature  first  to  be  considered 
is  The  Book  of  Prove?'bs  in  the  Bible,  together  with 
Ecclesiasticus  in  the  Apocrypha.  Both  are  miscellanies  : 
there  is  no  continuous  discussion,  but  a  succession  of 
disconnected  meditations,  in  the  brief  forms  of  proverbs, 
epigrams,  maxims,  or  the  longer  sonnets  and  essays. 
The  Book  of  Proverbs,  when  properly  divided,  is  seen 
to  be  five  separate  collections,  put  together  by  an  un- 

1  Ecclesiasticus  vi.  5. 


OLD  TESTAMENT    WISDOM  137 

known  editor.1  The  first  contains  sonnets  in  celebration 
of  wisdom  ;  the  second  has  for  title,  "  The  Proverbs  of 
Solomon"  ;  next  comes  what  reads  as  an  epistle  of  wisdom, 
sent  by  the  hands  of  a  messenger  to  friends  who  have 
asked  contributions  ;  the  fourth  section  is  entitled  "  Prov- 
erbs of  Solomon  which  the  men  of  Hezekiah  King  of 
Judah  copied  out  "  ;  the  last  contains  sayings  of  Agur  and 
of  Lemuel's  mother.  The  other  work  is  a  much  larger 
collection,  but  it  is  the  compilation  of  a  single  editor. 
The  name  in  the  original  is,  "  The  Wisdom  of  Jesus  the 
Son  of  Sirach  "  ;  the  name  Ecclcsiastiats  has  been  given 
to  the  book  by  theologians,  to  indicate  that  it  is  a  book 
1  for  reading  in  churches,'  as  distinguished  from  the  '  can- 
onical '  books,  which  alone  are  to  be  used  as  foundation 
for  theological  doctrine. 

The  contents  of  both  these  works  are  pervaded  by  a 
spirit  of  philosophic  calm.  Nor  is  the  reason  of  this 
difficult  to  discover.  The  wise  men,  as  they  are  here 
represented,  have  not  essayed  the  difficult  task  of  read- 
ing an  interpretation  into  existence  as  a  whole.  They 
show  keen  observation  and  analysis  :  but  their  observation 
is  directed  solely  upon  the  details  of  life  and  the  varieties 
of  human  society.  WThen  they  raise  their  thoughts  to 
the  sum  of  things,  they  feel  this  is  no  topic  for  analysis, 
but  only  meditate  with  reverent  rapture  upon  the  per- 
fection that  reigns  through  the  universe. 

To  speak  first  of  the  lower  wisdom  that  belongs  to  life 
in  its  details.  The  shorter  sayings  are  often  vivid  pic- 
turings  of  particular  types  or  aspects  of  social  life  :  what 
Elizabethan  writers  would  have  called  '  humours.'  There 
is  the  practical  joker  :  — 

1  For  detailed  references,  see  Proverbs,  Ecclesiasticus,  in  the  Appendix. 


138  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND   PROSE 

As  a  madman  who  casteth  firebrands,  arrows,  and  death  : 
So  is  the  man  that  deceiveth  his  neighbour, 
And  saith,  Am  not  I  in  sport  ? 

The  seductive  influence  of  slander  is  caught :  — 

The  words  of  a  whisperer  are  as  dainty  morsels, 

And  they  go  down  into  the  innermost  parts  of  the  belly. 

The  mendicant  is  presented  by  one  proverb  :  — 

All  the  brethren  of  the  poor  do  hate  him : 

How  much  more  do  his  friends  go  far  from  him  ! 
He  pursueth  them  with  words,  but  they  are  gone. 

Another  catches  the  '  humour '  of  shopping  :  — 

It  is  naught,  it  is  naught,  saith  the  buyer : 

But  when  he  is  gone  his  way,  then  he  boasteth. 

We  have  an  epigram  of  the  miserly  host :  — 

Eat  thou  not  the  bread  of  him  that  hath  an  evil  eye, 

Neither  desire  thou  his  dainties; 

For  as  one  that  reckoneth  within  himself,  so  is  he : 

Eat  and  drink,  saith  he  to  thee; 

But  his  heart  is  not  with  thee. 
The  morsel  which  thou  hast  eaten  shalt  thou  vomit  up, 
And  lose  thy  sweet  words. 

A  peculiar  form  of  sonnet 1  brings  out  well  the  ways  of  a 
pair  of  lovers,  so  full  of  meaning  to  themselves,  so  unin- 
telligible to  all  others  :  — 

There  be  three  things  which  are  too  wonderful  for  me, 
Yea,  four  which  I  know  not : 

The  way  of  an  Eagle  in  the  air; 

The  way  of  a  Serpent  upon  a  rock ; 

The  way  of  a  Ship  in  the  midst  of  the  sea; 
And  the  way  of  a  Man  with  a  Maid. 

1  Several  of  these  '  Number  Sonnets '  are  to  be  found  in  Proverbs  xxx. 


OLD   TESTAMENT   WISDOM  139 

Of  course  the  wise  men  heap  scorn  upon  the  sluggard  : 
who  buries  his  hand  in  the  dish,  too  lazy  to  bring  it  to 
his  mouth;  who  turns  on  his  bed  like  a  door  on  hinges  ; 
who  is  nevertheless  wiser  in  his  own  conceit  than  seven 
men  that  can  render  a  reason.  But,  naturally,  the  chief 
enemy  of  wisdom  is  '  the  fool.' 

Weep  for  the  dead, 

For  light  hath  failed  him; 
And  weep  for  a  fool, 

For  understanding  hath  failed  him  : 

Weep  more  sweetly  for  the  dead, 

Because  he  hath  found  rest; 

But  the  life  of  the  fool 
Is  worse  than  death. 

Seven  days  are  the  days  of  mourning  for  the  dead : 

But  for  a  fool  and  an  ungodly  man,  all  the  days  of  his  life.1 

Conduct  on  all  its  many  sides  is  a  subject  for  the  wise. 
Many  proverbs  inveigh  against  the  dishonesty  of  the  false 
balance ;  one  finds  an  illustration  for  ill-gotten  fortunes 
in  the  will-o'-the-wisp. 

The  getting  of  treasures  by  a  lying  tongue 
Is  a  vapour  driven  to  and  fro; 
They  that  seek  them  seek  death. 

Essays  deal  more  at  length  with  such  topics  as  pride  and 
meekness,  true  and  false  shame,  choice  of  company, 
vengeance,  sins  of  the  flesh ;  especially,  government  of 
the  tongue. 

Hast  thou  heard  a  word  ?  let  it  die  with  thee :   be  of  good 

courage;   it  will  not  burst  thee.     A  fool  will  travail  in    pain 

with  a  word,  as  a  woman  in  labour  with  a  child.     As  an  arrow 

that  sticketh  in  the  flesh  of  the  thigh,  so  is  a  word  in  a  fool's 

belly. 

1  Ecclesiasticus  xxii.  II. 


140  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

The  minutiae  of  conduct,  which  we  call  behaviour,  are  not 
beneath  the  notice  of  the  wise  men. 

Sittest  thou  at  a  great  table?  be  not  greedy  upon  it  .  .  . 
Stretch  not  thine  hand  whithersoever  it  looketh,  and  thrust  not 
thyself  with  it  into  the  dish.  .  .  .  Speak,  thou  that  art  the  elder, 
for  it  becometh  thee,  but  with  sound  knowledge.  And  hinder 
not  music :  pour  not  out  talk  when  there  is  a  performance  of 
music,  and  display  not  thy  wisdom  out  of  season.  .  .  .  Speak, 
young  man,  if  there  be  need  of  thee;  yet  scarcely  if  thou  be 
twice  asked:  sum  up  thy  speech,  many  things  in  few  words; 
be  as  one  that  knoweth  and  yet  holdeth  his  tongue. 

Conduct  as  a  topic  of  wisdom  leads  naturally  to  the  sub- 
ject of  relations  between  rich  and  poor,  master  and  ser- 
vant, children  and  parents.  Woman  is  variously  treated. 
Many  proverbs  seek  unpleasant  comparisons  for  the 
contentious  woman  ;  on  the  other  hand  no  language 
seems  to  the  wise  men  too  strong  for  extolling  the  good 
wife  ;  and  further,  a  wife  is  made  almost  a  necessity  for 
the  life  that  would  be  wise. 

Where  no  hedge  is,  the  possession  will  be  laid  waste :  and 
he  that  hath  no  wife  will  mourn  as  he  wandereth  up  and  down. 
For  who  will  trust  a  nimble  robber,  that  skippeth  from  city  to 
city  ?  even  so  who  shall  trust  a  man  that  hath  no  nest,  and 
lodgeth  wheresoever  he  findeth  himself  at  nightfall? 

And,  besides  the  activities  of  conduct,  there  is  the  pas- 
sive side  of  life  and  experience,  from  which  wisdom  can 
draw  its  reflections :  how  hope  deferred  maketh  the 
heart  sick  ;  how  — 

The  heart  knoweth  its  own  bitterness, 

And  a  stranger  intcrmeddleth  not  with  its  joy. 

We  are  approaching  a  step  nearer  to  the  Wisdom  that 
contemplates  the  sum  of  things  when  we  have  sayings  on 


OLD  TESTAMENT   WISDOM  141 

the  topic  of  the  judgment  between  good  and  evil :  not  a 
distant  event,  but  a  daily  controversy  in  which  evil  is 
bound  to  be  overthrown. 

There  shall  no  mischief  happen  to  the  righteous : 
But  the  wicked  shall  be  filled  with  evil. 

A  righteous  man,  though  he  fall  seven  times,  riseth  up 
again,  while  the  wicked  are  overthrown  by  calamity.  It 
will  be  asked,  How  could  the  enlightened  observation  of 
the  wise  men  fail  to  see  the  many  contradictions  to  this 
principle  which  daily  life  presents?  Such  contradictions 
are,  in  Proverbs,  dismissed  as  so  many  trials  of  faith. 

Fret  not  thyself  because  of  evil-doers; 

Neither  be  thou  envious  at  the  wicked : 
For  there  will  be  no  reward  to  the  evil  man; 

The  lamp  of  the  wicked  shall  be  put  out. 

The  son  of  Sirach  is  no  less  firm  in  this  faith ;  but  his 
essays  state  the  doctrine  in  a  way  to  meet  objections, 
pointing  out  how  retribution  may  be  delayed  until  the 
very  day  of  the  sinner's  death,  or  even  descend  upon  his 
posterity  instead  of  himself. 

In  the  day  of  good  things  there  is  a  forgetfulness  of  evil 
things;  and  in  the  day  of  evil  things  a  man  will  not  remember 
things  that  are  good.  For  it  is  an  easy  thing  in  the  sight  of 
the  Lord  to  reward  a  man  in  the  day  of  death  according  to  his 
ways.  The  affliction  of  an  hour  causeth  forgetfulness  of  de- 
light; and  in  the  last  end  of  a  man  is  the  revelation  of  his 
deeds.  Call  no  man  blessed  before  his  death;  and  a  man 
shall  be  known  in  his  children. 

We  may  now  turn  to  the  smaller  but  not  less  important 
portions  of  these  two  works,  in  which  the  wise  men  are 
meditating  upon  Wisdom  as  a  whole.     Here  the  calm  of 


142  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND   PROSE 

the  philosophic  observer  becomes  quickened  into    holy 
joy  and  fervent  admiration. 

Wisdom  is  the  principal  thing; 

Get  wisdom : 
Yea,  with  all  thou  hast  gotten 

Get  understanding. 

The  allurements  of  this  Wisdom  are  celebrated  in  sonnets. 

Happy  is  the  man  that  findeth  wisdom, 
And  the  man  that  getteth  understanding. 

For  the  merchandise  of  it  is  better  than  the  merchandise  of  silver, 
And  the  gain  thereof  than  fine  gold. 
She  is  more  precious  than  rubies : 

And  none  of  the  things  thou  canst  desire  are  to  be  compared 
unto  her. 

Length  of  days  is  in  her  right  hand; 

In  her  left  hand  are  riches  and  honour. 

Her  ways  are  ways  of  pleasantness, 

And  all  her  paths  are  peace. 

She  is  a  tree  of  life  to  them  that  lay  hold  upon  her; 

And  happy  is  every  one  that  retaineth  her. 

Essays  dwell  on  the  difficulty  of  securing  so  rich  a  prize. 

For  at  the  first  she  will  walk  with  him  in  crooked  ways,  and 
will  bring  fear  and  dread  upon  him,  and  torment  him  with  her 
discipline,  until  she  may  trust  his  soul,  and  try  him  by  her 
judgements :  then  will  she  return  again  the  straight  way  unto 
him,  and  will  gladden  him,  and  reveal  to  him  her  secrets. 

But  what  is  the  Wisdom  thus  celebrated,  and  how 
much  is  implied  in  the  conception  of  it?  In  the  first 
place,  Wisdom  is  a  thing  of  character ;  not  now  features 
of  conduct,  but  character  as  a  whole. 

For  wisdom  shall  enter  into  thine  heart, 
And  knowledge  shall  be  pleasant  unto  thy  soul; 
Discretion  shall  watch  over  thee; 
Understanding  shall  keep  thee. 


OLD    TESTAMENT    WISDOM  143 

Character  expresses  itself  in  action,  and  we  have  a 
"  way  of  wisdom  "  that  contrasts  with  its  opposite. 

The  path  of  the  righteous  is  as  the  light  of  dawn 
That  shineth  more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day. 

The  way  of  the  wicked  is  as  darkness: 
They  know  not  at  what  they  stumble. 

Not  only  how  the  good  man  walks  in  the  world,  but  also 
how  the  world  deals  with  him  —  this  comes  into  the  con- 
ception of  Wisdom  :  it  is  the  principle  of  providential 
retribution,  and  that  not  on  the  good  alone,  but  also  on 
the  evil.     It  is  Wisdom  who  is  made  to  proclaim  :  — 

Because  I  have  called,  and  ye  refused; 

I  have  stretched  out  my  hand, 

And  no  man  regarded ; 

But  ye  have  set  at  nought  all  my  counsel, 

And  would  none  of  my  reproof : 
I  also  will  laugh  in  the  day  of  your  calamity; 
I  will  mock  when  your  fear  cometh ; 
When  your  fear  cometh  as  a  storm, 
And  your  calamity  cometh  on  as  a  whirlwind; 
WThen  distress  and  anguish  come  upon  you, 

Then  shall  they  call  upon  me, 
But  I  will  not  answer; 

They  shall  seek  me  diligently, 
But  they  shall  not  find  me.    . 

But  the  conception  of  supreme  Wisdom  goes  farther 
still :  it  includes  not  only  the  providence  that  rules  over 
man,  but  also  the  providence  of  the  external  universe, 
which  first  brought  it  into  being,  and  still  maintains  it 
in  order  and  harmony. 

The  Lord  by  wisdom  founded  the  earth  : 
By  understanding  he  established  the  heavens. 
By  his  knowledge  the  depths  were  broken  up, 
And  the  skies  drop  down  the  dew. 


144  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

A  universal  Wisdom  which  thus  includes  the  world  within 
and  the  world  without,  which  establishes  a  harmony  ex- 
tending from  the  conduct  of  men  to  the  creative  power 
of  God  :  no  wonder  that  this  should  be  a  theme  of  song 
and  adoration,  such  as  scarcely  differs  from  the  adoration 
paid  to  God  himself,  the  author  of  Wisdom. 

To  fear  the  Lord 

Is  the  beginning  of  wisdom; 

And  it  was  created  together  with  the  faithful  in  the  womb. 

With  men  she  laid  an  eternal  foundation; 

And  with  their  seed  shall  she  be  had  in  trust. 

To  fear  the  Lord 

Is  the  fulness  of  wisdom; 

And  she  satiateth  men  with  her  fruits. 

She  shall  fill  all  her  house  with  desirable  things, 

And  her  garners  with  her  produce. 

The  fear  of  the  Lord 
Is  the  crown  of  wisdom, 
Making  peace  and  perfect  health  to  flourish. 
He  both  saw  and  numbered  her  ; 

He  rained  down  skill  and  knowledge  of  understanding, 
And  exalted  the  honour  of  them  that  hold  her  fast. 

To  fear  the  Lord 

Is  the  root  of  wisdom; 

And  her  branches  are  length  of  days. 

In  so  perfect  a  universe  what  place  is  there  for  evil? 
We  have  already  seen,  in  the  sayings  of  the  early  wise 
men,  the  destined  end  of  evil :  but  how  about  its  first 
beginning?  Very  delicate  and  suggestive  is  the  hand- 
ling of  this  topic  in  the  wisdom  sonnets.  As  all  good  is 
personified  under  the  name  of  Wisdom,  so  there  is  a 
shadowy  personification   of   her    opposite,   that   appears 


OLD   TESTAMENT   WISDOM  145 

from  time  to  time  as  the  '  Strange  Woman.'  It  must  be 
remembered  that  in  Bible  English  the  word  had  not  lost 
the  metaphorical  force  of  its  etymology,  and  suggested 
foreign  (the  French  etrange)  ;  the  'strange  women'  that 
Solomon  loved  were  foreigners.  Thus  evil  is  made  to 
appear  as  something  external,  an  intruder  into  God's 
good  world.  In  treatment,  the  'Strange  Woman'  is 
identified  with  the  grossest  form  of  temptation,  which  in 
ancient  Israel  would  be  carried  on  mainly  by  those  who 
were  not  Israelites.  The  most  elaborate  of  the  wisdom 
poems  l  is  an  idealised  picture  of  such  everyday  tempta- 
tion :  we  have  a  young  man  void  of  understanding,  a 
woman  wily  of  heart,  a  flattering  speech,  a  going  as  of  the 
ox  to  the  slaughter,  glimpses  of  a  house  that  is  a  way 
to  the  abyss,  with  its  slain  a  mighty  host.  Suddenly,  by 
the  boldest  of  transitions,  Wisdom  is  presented  in  con- 
trast as  seduction  to  good. 

Doth  not  Wisdom  cry, 
And  Understanding  put  forth  her  voice? 
In  the  top  of  high  places  by  the  way, 
Where  the  paths  meet, 

She  standeth; 
Beside  the  gates,  at  the  entry  of  the  city, 
At  the  coming  in  at  the  doors, 

She  crieth  aloud. 

All  the  attractions  of  Wisdom  are  displayed  :  subtilty, 
knowledge,  discretion,  hatred  of  evil,  sagacity  in  govern- 
ment and  justice ;  not  these  alone,  but  riches  and  honour 
and  highest  success.  Wisdom  rises  beyond  these  to 
identity  with  the  power  that  stamped  perfection  on  the 
world  God  created.  — 

1  Proverbs  vii-viii. 


146  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND   PROSE 

When  he  established  the  heavens  I  was  there  : 

When  he  set  a  circle  upon  the  face  of  the  deep : 

When  he  made  firm  the  skies  above  : 

When  the  fountains  of  the  deep  became  strong : 

When  he  gave  to  the  sea  its  bound, 

That  the  waters  should  not  transgress  his  commandment : 

When  he  marked  out  the  foundations  of  the  earth, 

Then  I  was  by  him. 

With  the  final  words  of  entreaty  and  warning  we  have 
summed  up  the  whole  of  wisdom  literature  in  this  its 
stage  of  simplicity  and  calm. 

Blessed  is  the  man  that  heareth  me,  watching  daily  at  my  gates, 

Waiting  at  the  posts  of  my  doors, 
For  whoso  findeth  me  findeth  life, 

And  shall  obtain  favour  of  the  Lord; 
But  he  that  sinneth  against  me  wrongeth  his  own  soul; 

All  they  that  hate  me  love  death. 

Sacred  Wisdom  in  its  Stage  of  Storm  and  Stress 

The  Book  of  Ecclesiastes 

As  we  read  the  several  books  of  wisdom  in  the  order 
in  which  I  have  placed  them,  we  notice  not  only  varia- 
tions in  their  spirit,  but  also  a  succession  of  changes  in 
external  literary  form.  The  Book  of  Proverbs  is  made  up 
wholly  of  disconnected  proverbs,  epigrams,  and  sonnets. 
To  these,  in  Ecclesiastictts,  are  added  maxims  and  essays. 
The  addition  is  important :  the  brief  form  of  the  prov- 
erb or  epigram  admits  only  of  single  observations  of  life, 
whereas  in  the  longer  essay  many  different  observations 
are  grouped  together  under  a  given  topic.  In  Ecclesi- 
astes this  grouping  of  thoughts  is  carried  further  :  here  the 
essays,  while  as  before  they  are  separated  by  strings  of 


OLD  TESTAMENT   WISDOM  147 

disconnected  brevities,  yet  are  found  to  unite  in  a  com- 
mon drift  of  thought,  and  are  further  bound  into  a  unity 
by  a  prologue  and  epilogue.  In  The  Wisdom  of  Solomon 
the  strings  of  miscellaneous  brevities  disappear ;  the 
essays  (or  rather  discourses)  are  connected  together  in 
a  curious  way  that  might  be  called  dove- tailing —  the  last 
thought  of  one  becomes  the  opening  thought  of  the  next. 
Thus  we  have  at  last  arrived  at  a  work  continuous 
throughout.  In  The  Book  of  Job  the  form  changes  alto- 
gether to  that  of  drama  and  narrated  story.  The  two 
last-named  works  differ  from  the  rest  in  lacking  the  series 
of  miscellaneous  proverbs  and  epigrams.  Yet  these  two 
books  are  full  of  wise  and  pithy  sayings,  which  make  the 
details  of  discourses  or  dramatic  speeches.  In  other 
words,  the  lower  wisdom,  that  observes  the  parts,  has 
become  absorbed  into  the  higher  Wisdom,  that  reflects 
upon  the  whole  of  life. 

This  literary  structure  of  Eeelesiastes  —  five  essays, 
separated  by  miscellaneous  sayings,  and  bound  into  a 
unity  by  prologue  and  epilogue 1  —  has  an  important  bear- 
ing upon  the  traditional  idea  that  the  book  was  written 
by  the  historical  king  Solomon.  Historic  criticism,  the 
province  of  which  is  to  investigate  questions  of  author- 
ship, finds  the  internal  evidence  of  the  book  pointing  to 
a  date  centuries  later  than  the  time  of  Solomon.  Yet 
the  popular  mind  clings  to  the  traditional  idea,  from  a 
mistaken  notion  that  the  book  itself  names  Solomon  as 
its  author.  When  the  work  is  read  in  its  true  literary 
structure  it  will  be  seen  how  far  this  is  from  being  the 
case.     The  prologue  and  epilogue  are  the  most  natural 

1  For  exact  references,  see  Appendix. 


148  BIBLICAL   POETRY    AM)    PROSE 

places  in  which  to  look  for  evidence  of  authorship  :  but 
these  parts  of  Ecclesiastes  lack  all  allusion  to  or  suggestion 
of  Solomon.  The  miscellaneous  sayings  are  quite  unlike 
what  might  be  expected  from  a  royal  philosopher.  Four 
of  the  five  essays  are  without  any  light  on  the  question  of 
authorship.  The  allusion  to  Solomon  is  confined  to  the 
first  essay,  which' opens  with  the  words  :  — 

I,  the  Preacher,  was  king  over  Israel  in  Jerusalem. 

This  first  essay,  when  examined,  is  found  to  be  the  record 
of  an  imaginary  experiment,  which  was  to  survey  pleasure, 
wisdom,  power,  in  order  to  see  what  they  might  yield  to 
wisdom.  The  author  of  the  book,  whoever  he  may  be, 
following  a  frequent  custom  of  ancient  philosophy,  has 
put  the  record  of  such  an  experiment  into  the  mouth  of 
the  one  historical  personage  who  had  the  fullest  means 
of  making  it :  when  the  subject  of  this  supposed  experi- 
ment is  concluded,  the  personality  of  Solomon  disap- 
pears. This  matter  of  authorship  is  important  only 
because  so  many  students,  coming  to  Ecclesiastes  with 
the  idea  that  it  is  from  the  pen  of  Solomon,  have  read 
into  the  work  the  personality  of  the  supposed  author, 
and  seen  only  the  morbid  complainings  of  a  life  vitiated 
by  pleasure.  Despair  there  is  in  the  book  :  but,  when 
examined  without  prejudice,  it  will  be  found  to  be  the 
product  of  a  noble  mind,  which  in  the  midst  of  philo- 
sophic despair  retains  faith  in  God,  and  finds  life  full  of 
happiness. 

In  the  general  survey  of  wisdom  literature  Ecclesiastes 
makes  a  stage  all  by  itself.  The  analysis  and  question- 
ing, hitherto  reserved  for  the  details  of  life,  are  now 
turned  upon  the  universe  as  a  whole  :  philosophy  in  this 


OLD   TESTAMENT   WISDOM  149 

stage  proves  unequal  to  the  task  of  rinding  a  meaning  in 
existence,  and  breaks  down  in  despair.  Though  here,  as 
before,  are  collected  wise  sayings  on  the  details  of  con- 
duct, yet  'Wisdom'  in  the  larger  sense  disappears:  the 
very  word  is  lacking,  and  'Vanity'  takes  its  place.  The 
calm  reflection  or  rapturous  celebration  that  belonged 
to  the  earliest  wisdom  has  for  a  time  ceased  j  philosophy 
has  passed  into  a  stage  of  storm  and  stress. 

We  must  examine  the  several  sections  of  the  book. 
The  prologue  is  only  an  expansion  of  the  text,  All  things 
are  vanity.  External  nature  seems  to  this  observer  only 
a  monotony  of  movement  in  a  circle  ;  human  inquiry 
finds  no  satisfaction  ;  there  is  no  advance  from  generation 
to  generation,  but  the  thing  that  is  is  the  thing  that  has 
been.  In  place  of  the  old  path  of  wisdom,  Ecclesiastcs 
finds  existence  a  mere  treadmill. 

The  first  essay,  as  we  have  seen,  imagines  the  one  man 
in  history  who  combined  supreme  wealth,  wisdom,  and 
power  experimenting  to  see  which  type  of  life  may  be 
exalted  as  '  wisdom.'  First,  he  plunges  with  all  his 
resources  into  a  life  of  pleasure.  His  experiment  shall 
be  bold  :  he  will  not  be  afraid  of  those  pleasures  men  call 
follies,  only  he  will  take  them,  not  as  a  fool  does,  but  with 
his  wisdom  retained  for  the  purpose  of  testing.  The  ex- 
periment in  the  life  of  pleasure  is  drawn  out  to  the  full : 
and  the  result,  to  the  experimenter's  wisdom,  is  that  such 
life  is  vanity.  Next,  the  life  of  wisdom  is  examined. 
The  imaginary  Solomon  sees  in  an  instant  that  wisdom 
surpasses  folly  as  light  surpasses  darkness  :  yet  the  vanity 
of  life  reappears  in  the  fact  that  the  wise  and  the  fool 
come  to  the  same  end  of  death.  Similarly,  when  '  labour' 
or  enterprise  is  surveyed,  the  successful  labourer  has  to 


150  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

leave  his  vast  schemes  to  his  successor,  who  may  be  a 
fool :  this  also  is  vanity. 

But  there  is  a  fourth  branch  to  this  survey  of  life,  which 
is  very  interesting.  May  it  be  that  the  satisfaction  which 
is  being  sought  as  '  wisdom '  belongs  to  no  one  type  of 
life ;  that  it  is  to  be  found,  not  in  the  grand  accumula- 
tion of  wealth,  of  wisdom,  or  enterprise,  but  in  the 
momentary  appreciation  of  life  as  it  passes,  whether  the 
life  of  pleasure,  or  wisdom,  or  power?  Here  it  may  be 
well  to  caution  the  reader  on  one  point  of  style.  Ecclesi- 
astes  is  one  of  the  most  difficult  books  in  all  literature  : 
and  its  difficulty  is  largely  caused  by  the  degree  to  which 
it  carries  what  is  called  symbolic  style  of  writing.  This 
implies  that  particular  ideas  are  represented  arbitrarily, 
each  by  a  particular  formula  of  words.  Thus  when  our 
author  wishes  to  speak  of  actual  life,  as  distinguished 
from  life  in  the  abstract,  he  will  express  it  as  "  what  is 
done  under  the  sun  "  \  when  he  conveys  a  sudden  change 
of  thought,  he  does  it  in  the  phrase,  "  I  said  in  mine 
heart."  Similarly,  he  uses  the  formula  "  eat  and  drink  " 
to  express  appreciation  of  all  kinds.  Readers  of  the 
book  who  have  the  personality  of  Solomon  in  their 
minds,  noticing  the  frequent  recurrence  of  "  eat  and 
drink  "  in  this  work,  are  apt  to  run  away  with  the  idea 
that  sensuous  enjoyment  is  largely  its  topic.  But  the 
phrase  "  eat  and  drink  "  will  be  found  applied  to  riches, 
even  to  honour :  it  is  no  more  than  a  formula  for  ex- 
pressing appreciation  of  anything  whatever.  In  this 
spirit  must  be  read  the  words  of  this  first  essay  :  — 

There  is  nothing  better  for  a  man  than  that  he  should  eat 
and  drink,  and  make  his  soul  enjoy  good  in  his  labour.  This 
also  I  saw,  that  it  is  from  the  hand  of  God. 


OLD  TESTAMENT   WISDOM  151 

The  fourth  experiment  of  the  imaginary  Solomon  has 
discovered  that  the  very  best  thing  in  the  whole  world 
is  the  power  to  appreciate  what  life  brings  from  moment 
to  moment,  whether  of  pleasure,  or  wisdom,  or  enterprise. 
Yet  this  fourth  experiment,  like  the  rest,  is  a  failure  : 
for  the  reflection  soon  follows,  that  such  power  to  find 
happiness  in  life  as  it  passes  is  a  thing  a  man  cannot 
secure  by  any  effort  of  his  own,  but  it  is  God's  gift  to  the 
individual  soul. 

The  first  essay  then  has  reached  the  negative  result 
that  no  type  of  life  bears  examination  as  '  wisdom.'  It 
has  also  contributed  a  positive  thought,  that  what  happi- 
ness there  is  in  life  is  the  direct  gift  of  God. 

The  second  essay  brings  up  another  theory  of  life,  and 
considers  only  to  reject  it.  The  theory  might  perhaps 
be  described  by  the  modern  term  '  eclecticism.'  Granted 
that  no  one  side  of  life  is  to  be  identified  with  wisdom, 
may  it  not  be  that  in  the  conception  to  be  formed  of 
this  wisdom  all  the  elements  of  life  without  exception 
have  some  place?  The  writer's  formula  for  expressing 
this  is  that  there  is  a  time  and  season  for  everything 
under  the  sun.  But  this  philosophy  of  times  and  seasons 
is  overthrown  by  four  arguments.  First,  it  is  true  that 
all  the  elements  of  life  have  an  attractiveness  of  their 
own.  But  the  God  who  so  created  them  also  implanted 
in  man's  breast  a  sense  of  the  universal,  a  craving  to 
know  "  the  work  that  God  hath  done  from  the  beginning 
even  to  the  end  "  :  and  this  yearning  after  the  meaning 
of  the  whole  blots  out  all  satisfaction  from  the  parts. 
Again  :  it  is  true  that  all  things  are  beautiful  in  their 
season.  But  the  power  to  catch  this  beauty  is  the  gift 
of  God  to  the  individual ;  no  effort  on  his  part  can  force 


152  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

it  from  One  who  acts  by  eternal  laws.  Once  more  :  the 
'  seasons  '  of  things  are  found  to  be  reversed  —  wickedness 
is  seen  in  the  place  of  judgment.  For  a  moment  there 
comes  the  thought  of  an  hereafter  when  these  injustices 
may  be  set  right ;  the  next  moment  the  thought  is  aban- 
doned, in  the  absence  of  any  evidence  that  man's  death 
is  other  than  the  death  of  brutes.  Finally,  there  are 
things  —  oppression,  rivalry,  bereavement  —  which  no 
season  can  render  beautiful.  The  second  essay,  like 
the  first,  fails  to  find  wisdom.  But  it  has  repeated  the 
positive  thought  before  discovered,  that  satisfaction  and 
happiness  in  life  is  God's  gift  to  the  individual  soul. 

A  third  essay  illustrates  the  vanity  of  desire.  But  one 
of  its  illustrations  is  made  by  companion  pictures  :  of  a 
man  who  has  all  things  to  enjoy,  with  the  power  to  enjoy 
them ;  of  another  man  who  lacks  nothing  that  his  soul 
desires,  but  God  has  withheld  from  him  the  power  to 
enjoy  what  he  possesses.  A  fourth  essay,  giving  up  wis- 
dom as  unattainable,  inquires  whether  an  approach 
toward  wisdom  may  not  be  possible,  and  takes  the  form 
of  notes  by  the  way.  But  amid  these  negative  notes 
there  breaks  out  a  sudden  appeal  to  the  man  who  has 
found  happiness,  who  eats  his  bread  with  joy,  and  drinks 
wine  with  a  merry  heart,  living  joyfully  with  the  wife 
he  loves :  he  is  bidden  to  continue  in  this  joyful  living, 
for  "  God  has  already  accepted  his  works."  With  the 
continued  failure  to  read  any  meaning  into  existence, 
there  has  thus  grown  stronger  and  stronger  the  posi- 
tive thought,  that  actual  happiness  in  life  is  God's  gift ; 
he  who  has  it  may  recognise  it  as  God's  token  of 
approval. 

When  we  reach  the  fifth  and  last  essay,  the  positive 


OLD  TESTAMENT   WISDOM  153 

thought  of  happiness  is  supreme ;  and  the  vanity  of  all 
things  is  made  a  reason  for  emphasising  the  happiness  of 
the  happy.  If  a  man  live  many  years,  he  is  to  rejoice  in 
them  all,  remembering  the  days  of  darkness  and  empti- 
ness that  are  to  come. 

Rejoice,  O  young  man,  in  thy  youth,  and  let  thy  heart 
cheer  thee  in  the  days  of  thy  youth,  and  walk  in  the  ways  of 
thine  heart,  and  in  the  sight  of  thine  eyes :  but  know  thou 
that  for  all  these  things  God  will  bring  thee  into  judgement.  — 

—  This  last  clause  of  caution  refers  to  the  everlasting  con- 
troversy of  good  and  evil  in  daily  life  (which  is  the  regu- 
lar meaning  of  'judgment'  in  wisdom  literature):  the 
happiness  of  youth  must  always  have  regard  to  the  dis- 
tinction of  right  and  wrong.  With  this  one  limitation 
happiness  is  made  a  duty. — 

—  Therefore  remove  sorrow  from  thy  heart,  and  put  away  evil 
from  thy  flesh  :   for  youth  and  the  prime  of  life  are  vanity. 

Not  happiness  alone,  however,  but  the  remembrance  of 
the  Creator  is  to  be  emphasised  in  youth ;  both  for  the 
same  reason  —  of  the  coming  days  when  failing  powers 
diminish  strength  alike  for  enjoyment  and  for  worship. 
And  the  essay  merges  in  the  well-known  sonnet  which 
pictures  under  symbolic  phrases  old  age,  decay,  and 
death. 

There  follows  an  epilogue  which,  reiterating  that  all 
things  are  vanity,  finds  this  as  the  end  of  the  matter  : 
"  Fear  God,  and  keep  his  commandments ;  for  this  is 
the  whole  duty  of  man." 

We  started  with  a  prologue  which  said,  All  is  vanity ; 
we  have  reached  an  epilogue  which  says,  All  is  vanity, 
fear  God.     From  the  one  tone  of  mind  we  have  travelled 


154  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND   PROSE 

to  the  other  by  two  distinct  lines  of  thinking,  kept  con- 
tinually side  by  side.  One  is  a  negative  train  of  thought, 
a  succession  of  failures  to  find  any  wisdom  in  the  sum  of 
things  :  the  meaning  of  existence  is  God's  secret.  There- 
fore fear  God.  The  other  is  a  positive  conviction,  grow- 
ing ever  more  emphatic  :  life  is  full  of  happiness,  but 
the  power  to  feel  it  is  God's  special  gift  to  the  individual 
soul.  Therefore,  again,  fear  God.  Devout  scepticism  as 
a  background  for  natural  happiness  —  this  seems  to  sum 
up  the  thought  of  Ecclesiastes.  Scepticism  is  the  fatigue 
of  the  analysing  faculties  ;  throughout  the  book  the  effort 
to  analyse  the  universe  breaks  down  in  depressing  failure. 
But  the  author  holds  God  himself  as  responsible  for 
scepticism,  inasmuch  as  it  is  he  who  has  implanted  in 
the  human  breast  the  craving  to  know  the  work  that  God 
has  been  doing  from  the  beginning  to  the  end.  Yet  this 
scepticism  makes  the  thinker,  not  impious,  but  the  more 
God-fearing.  More  strange  still,  this  writer,  of  all  the 
sacred  authors,  is  the  one  who  emphasises  happiness  — 
not  the  pleasure  that  is  reckless  of  right  and  wrong,  but 
responsible,  natural  happiness  —  as  the  one  best  thing  in 
God's  universe,  and  God's  own  stamp  of  approval  on  the 
man  to  whom  he  grants  it. 

But  what  explains  this  thinker's  failure  to  find  any 
1  wisdom  '  in  the  universe  he  is  seeking  to  analyse  ?  The 
answer  is  clear :  the  world  he  examines  is  a  world 
bounded  by  death.  When  the  Preacher  sees  how  the 
life  of  wisdom  excels  the  life  of  folly,  he  is  arrested  by 
the  sudden  thought  that  both  have  the  same  ending. 
The  life  of  laborious  enterprise  becomes  vanity  for  the 
same  reason  —  death  and  the  leaving  all  to  a  successor 
who  may  be  a  fool.     When  the  inequalities  of  life  sug- 


OLD  TESTAMENT    WISDOM  155 

gest  a  judgment  hereafter,  the  thought  is  quenched  in  a 
further  thought,  that  there  is  no  known  difference  between 
the  end  of  a  man  and  the  end  of  a  brute.  The  circum- 
scribed life  in  this  world  is  rejected  as  meaningless.  But 
just  here  is  the  point  of  transition  to  another  work  of 
wisdom  :  while  Ecclesiastcs,  as  if  it  were  a  matter  of 
course,  assumes  death  as  the  end  of  all,  The  Wisdom 
of  Solomon,  equally  as  a  truth  needing  no  argument, 
assumes  that  God  made  not  death,  and  that  righteousness 
is  immortal.  In  this  widened  field  of  view  despair  yields 
to  triumph,  and  Wisdom  reappears  in  place  of  Vanity. 

Sacred  Wisdom  in  its  Late?'  Stage  of  Triumph 
The   Wisdom  of  Solomon 

No  two  works  can  be  more  unlike  in  their  style  than 
Ecclesiastcs  and  The  Wisdom  of  Solomon.  The  one 
belongs  to  the  Judaism  of  Palestine,  and  has  the  sugges- 
tive vagueness  of  Hebrew  literature.  The  other  comes 
from  Alexandria,  in  which  Hebrew  and  Greek  thought 
had  intermingled :  the  book  is  written  in  Greek,  and 
exhibits  all  the  rhetoric  flow  and  subtle  ingenuity  of 
Greek  style.  Yet  in  their  matter  the  two  books  are 
closely  related :  the  full  interest  of  The  Wisdom  of  Solo- 
mon is  felt  only  when  it  is  read  as  an  answer  to  Ecclesi- 
astcs. It  is  not,  of  course,  an  answer  in  the  sense  of  a 
refutation  or  attack;  nor  is  the  one  work  referred  to  by 
name  in  the  other.  But  the  imperfection  of  one  view 
of  life  is  made  to  appear  when  beside  it  is  placed  a  con- 
ception that  is  deeper  and  broader. 

The  first  of   the  five  discourses1  in   The  Wisdom  of 

1  For  references,  see  in  the  Appendix. 


156  BIBLICAL    POETRY   AND    PROSE 

Solomon  is  extremely  brief;  when  read  by  itself  it  seems 
commonplace.  Its  interest,  however,  becomes  immensely 
heightened  if  it  be  understood  as  glancing  at  a  portion 
of  Ecclesiastcs.  That  work  had  pictured  a  strange 
experiment  in  pleasure :  the  wise  man  was  to  plunge 
boldly  into  vice,  yet  retain  his  wisdom  in  order  to  test 
the  worth  of  vice.  The  discourse  we  are  considering 
rebukes  such  a  conception,  as  tempting  God. 

Wisdom  will  not  enter  into  a  soul  that  deviseth  evil,  nor 
dwell  in  a  body  that  is  held  in  pledge  by  sin. 

The  subtle  temptation  to  experiment  in  folly  for  wis- 
dom's sake  is  itself  the  highest  unwisdom. 

The  difference  of  spirit  between  the  two  works  stands 
more  fully  revealed  in  connection  with  the  second  dis- 
course. Nothing  is  more  prominent  in  Ecclesiastcs  than 
the  writer's  passionate  insistence  on  death  as  the  end 
of  life,  on  the  impossibility  of  seeing  any  difference 
between  the  death  of  a  man  and  the  death  of  a  beast. 
With  equal  insistence  The  Wisdom  of  Solomon  assumes 
the  idea  of  immortality. 

God  made  not  death :  neither  delighteth  he  when  the  living 
perish.  For  he  created  all  things  that  they  might  have  being; 
and  the  generative  powers  of  the  world  are  healthsome,  and 
there  is  no  poison  of  destruction  in  them  ...  for  righteousness 
is  immortal. 

As  the  early  wisdom,  in  its  phrase  the  'Strange  Woman,' 
treated  evil  as  an  intruder  in  God's  good  world,  so  here 
the  life  of  the  wicked  is  construed  as  inviting  death  into 
a  world  in  which  but  for  them  it  would  have  no  place. 
In  expansion  of  this  thought  we  have  a  long  monologue 
of  the  pleasure-lover. 


OLD  TESTAMENT    WISDOM  157 

Short  and  sorrowful  is  our  life  :  and  there  is  no  healing  when 
a  man  cometh  to  his  end,  and  none  was.  ever  known  that  gave 
release  from  Hades.  Because  by  mere  chance  were  we  born, 
and  hereafter  we  shall  be  as  though  we  had  never  been  .  .  . 
and  our  life  shall  pass  away  as  the  traces  of  a  cloud,  and  shall 
be  scattered  as  is  a  mist  when  it  is  chased  by  the  beams  of  the 
sun.  .  .  .  Come,  therefore,  and  let  us  enjoy  the  good  things 
that  now  are ;  and  let  us  use  the  creation  with  all  our  soul  as 
youth's  possession.  Let  us  fill  ourselves  with  costly  wine  and 
perfumes,  and  let  no  flower  of  spring  pass  us  by.  .  .  . 

So  far  we  have  exactly  the  thought  of  Ecclesiastes : 
the  shortness  of  life  is  to  emphasise  happiness.  The 
Preacher  had  insisted  that  such  happiness  was  to  be  kept 
within  the  bounds  of  right :  but,  as  the  monologue  of 
the  pleasure-seekers  continues,  we  see  how  easily  con- 
ceptions of  pleasure  pass  into  conceptions  of  evil. 

Let  us  oppress  the  righteous  poor  .  .  .  because  he  is  of 
disservice  to  us,  and  is  contrary  to  our  works  ...  he  is  grievous 
unto  us  even  to  behold,  because  his  life  is  unlike  other  men's, 
and  his  paths  are  of  strange  fashion.  .  .  .  The  latter  end  of 
the  righteous  he  calleth  happy;  and  he  vaunteth  that  God 
is  his  father.  Let  us  see  if  his  words  be  true,  and  let  us  try 
what  shall  befall  in  the  ending  of  his  life.  .  .  .  Let  us  con- 
demn him  to  a  shameful  death. 

As  the  author  here  breaks  in  upon  this  monologue  of 
the  wicked  we  get  another  point  of  contact  with  Eccle- 
siastes. The  Preacher,  in  his  general  despair  of  reading 
God's  ways  with  men,  had  exclaimed:1  — 

The  righteous  and  the  wise  and  their  works  are  in  the  hand 
of  God  :  whether  it  be  love  or  hatred,  man  knoweth  it  not;  all 
is  before  them. 

Catching  up  the  Preacher's  phrase  the  present  discourse 
gives  it  another  meaning.  — 

1  Ecclesiastes  ix.  I. 


158  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND   PROSE 

But  the  souls  of  the  righteous  are  in  the  hand  of  God,  and 
no  torment  shall  touch  them.  In  the  eyes  of  the  foolish  they 
seemed  to  have  died;  and  their  departure  was  accounted  to  be 
their  hurt,  and  their  journeying  away  from  us  to  be  their  ruin  : 
but  they  are  in  peace.  For  even  if  in  the  sight  of  men  they 
be  punished,  their  hope  is  full  of  immortality;  and  having 
borne  a  little  chastening,  they  shall  receive  great  good.  .  .  . 
And  in  the  time  of  their  visitation  they  shall  shine  forth,  and 
as  sparks  among  stubble  they  shall  run  to  and  fro.  They  shall 
judge  nations,  and  have  dominion  over  peoples;  and  the  Lord 
shall  reign  over  them  for  evermore. 

The  picture  is  completed  by  another  imaginary  mono- 
logue of  the  same  pleasure-seekers,  rising  from  a  dis- 
honoured grave  to  encounter  the  despised  righteous  man 
in  his  triumph,  and  to  pronounce  their  own  life  vanity. 
A  great  feature  of  style  in  The  Wisdom  of  Solomon  is 
the  use  of  the  digression :  in  such  by-paths  of  his  argu- 
ment this  writer  often  places  his  most  important  thoughts. 
Thus,  in  this  second  discourse,  he  turns  aside  from  the 
pictures  of  a  world  beyond  the  grave,  in  order  to  glance 
at  the  substitutes  for  the  idea  of  immortality  which  had 
satisfied  earlier  thought.  These  substitutes  were  two : 
the  living  over  again  in  posterity,  and  the  long  life  in 
this  world,  which  were  regarded  as  the  reward  of  the 
righteous.     As  to  the  first,  says  the  present  writer:  — 

The  end  of  an  unrighteous  generation  is  alway  grievous. 
Better  than  this  is  childlessness  with  virtue.  For  in  the  mem- 
ory of  virtue  is  immortality,  because  it  is  recognised  both  before 
God  and  before  men;  when  it  is  present  men  imitate  it,  and 
they  long  after  it  when  it  is  departed,  and  throughout  all  time 
it  marcheth  crowned  in  triumph,  victorious  in  the  strife  for  the 
prizes  that  are  undefiled. 

The  old  view  that  virtue  brought  Ions  life  had  had  to 


OLD  TESTAMENT   WISDOM  159 

confront  the  actual  contradictions  of  facts:  the  mystery 
is  solved  by  the  thought  of  immortality. 

A  righteous  man,  though  he  die  before  his  time,  shall  be  at 
rest.  For  honourable  old  age  is  not  that  which  standeth  in 
length  of  time,  nor  is  its  measure  given  by  number  of  years : 
but  understanding  is  gray  hairs  unto  men,  and  an  unspotted 
life  is  ripe  old  age.  Being  found  well  pleasing  unto  God  he 
was  beloved  of  him,  and  while  living  among  sinners  he  was 
translated.  .  .  .  Being  made  perfect  in  a  little  while  he  ful- 
filled long  years :  for  his  soul  was  pleasing  unto  the  Lord : 
therefore  hasted  he  out  of  the  midst  of  wickedness. 

The  suggestion  of  The  Wisdom  of  Solomon  as  an 
answer  to  Ecclesiastes  is  most  potent  in  the  third  dis- 
course. The  one  work  had  pictured  the  Solomon  of 
history  in  an  imaginary  search  for  wisdom,  from  which 
he  found  only  vanity.  This  third  discourse  is  again  a 
monologue  of  Solomon;  no  imagination  is  necessary, 
for  an  historic  incident  is  presented,  and  Solomon  finds 
wisdom,  but  finds  it  through  prayer.  The  discourse 
simply  works  up,  in  impressive  detail,  the  familiar  inci- 
dent of  Solomon's  vision  at  Gibeon,  and  his  prayer  for 
wisdom. 

Here  again  it  is  the  digressions  that  contain  the  most 
important  matter  of  the  whole  discourse.  Solomon  has 
been  saying  that  he  had  preferred  wisdom  to  all  things : 
he  breaks  off  to  bear  testimony  how  all  good  things  came 
to  him  with  the  wisdom  he  had  chosen. 

.  .  .  [God]  gave  me  an  unerring  knowledge  of  the  things 
that  are :  to  know  the  constitution  of  the  world,  and  the 
operation  of  the  elements;  the  beginning  and  end  and  middle 
of  times;  the  alternations  of  the  solstices  and  the  changes  of 
seasons;  the  circuits  of  years  and  the  positions  of  stars;  the 
natures  of  living  creatures  and  the  ragings  of  wild  beasts;   the 


160  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

violences  of  winds  and  the  thoughts  of  men;  the  diversities  of 
plants  and  the  virtues  of  roots.  .  .  .  For  she  that  is  the  artifi- 
cer of  all  things  taught  me,  even  Wisdom. 

It  is  remarkable  that  the  early  wise  men  approached 
external  nature  only  in  the  spirit  of  contemplation, 
reserving  their  analytic  observation  for  human  life.  The 
passage  just  quoted  is  important  as  showing  that,  in  this 
more  advanced  stage,  all  we  call  'natural  history'  has 
become  a  part  of  Hebrew  wisdom. 

Still  more  important  is  the  passage  which  immediately 
follows.  Biblical  philosophy  in  its  first  stage  had  recog- 
nised as  distinct,  yet  perfectly  harmonious,  the  wisdom 
of  conduct,  and  the  Wisdom  seen  to  prevail  throughout 
the  whole  universe.  Ecdesiastcs  divorced  the  two:  the 
Preacher  continued  to  add  to  the  wise  maxims  of  con- 
duct, but  the  survey  of  existence  as  a  whole  turned  with 
him  to  the  negative  idea  of  vanity.  In  The  Wisdom 
of  Solomon  the  severed  elements  are  to  be  reunited. 

For  there  is  in  [Wisdom]  a  spirit  quick  of  understanding, 
holy,  alone  in  kind,  manifold,  subtil,  freely  moving,  clear  in 
utterance,  unpolluted,  distinct,  unharmed,  loving  what  is  good, 
keen,  unhindered,  beneficent,  loving  toward  man,  stedfast,  sure, 
free  from  care,  all-powerful,  all-surveying,  and  penetrating 
through  all  spirits  that  are  quick  of  understanding,  pure,  most 
subtil.  For  Wisdom  is  more  mobile  than  any  motion;  yea,  she 
pervadeth  and  penetrateth  all  things  by  reason  of  her  pureness. 
For  she  is  a  breath  of  the  power  of  God,  and  a  clear  effluence 
of  the  glory  of  the  Almighty;  therefore  can  nothing  defiled 
find  entrance  into  her.  For  she  is  an  effulgence  from  ever- 
lasting light,  and  an  unspotted  mirror  of  the  working  of  God, 
and  an  image  of  his  goodness. 

There  is  more  than  rapturous  encomium  in  this  famous 
passage :    the    sense   of    harmony   has    been    recovered 


OLD   TESTAMENT   WISDOM  161 

between  the  world  without  and  the  world  within,  in  a 
Wisdom  that  is  "an  unspotted  mirror  of  the  working  of 
God,  and  an  image  of  his  goodness." 

From  this  point  the  matter  of  Ecclesiastes  is  left 
behind:  what  remains  is  the  application  of  wisdom 
in  its  full  sense  to  history.  The  fourth  discourse  runs 
through  the  succession  of  the  fathers,  showing  how  they 
were  saved  by  wisdom.  Adam  rising  out  of  his  trans- 
gression into  righteousness,  Cain  falling  away  from  wis- 
dom into  murder,  Abraham  withstanding  the  yearnings 
of  his  heart  when  the  sacrifice  of  his  child  is  called  for: 
here  we  have  the  wisdom  of  the  world  within.  Adam 
protected  in  his  loneliness  as  sole  inhabitant  of  the 
world,  Noah  saved  when  a  world  perishes,  Abraham 
called  out  to  be  founder  of  a  new  nation :  here  we  see 
the  wisdom  outside  man,  the  protecting  providence. 
The  two  unite  in  Moses :  wisdom  enters  into  his  soul 
and  makes  him  strong  to  stand  before  kings;  he  is  the 
great  agent  of  the  wise  providence  that  guides  God's 
people  through  the  wilderness. 

It  is  while  the  writer  is  dwelling  on  this  last  topic  that 
we  come  upon  the  sentence  — 

For  by  what  things  their  foes  were  punished,  by  these  they 
in  their  need  were  benefited. 

This  becomes  the  text  of  the  elaborate  fifth  discourse, 
in  length  one-half  of  the  whole  book.  Wisdom  in  the 
sense  of  providence  is  emphasised  when  a  single  prin- 
ciple, such  as  this  text  contains,  can  be  traced  in  its 
continual  recurrence  throughout  the  history  of  the  wil- 
derness. Seven  illustrations  of  the  theme  are  elaborately 
worked   out.      The   water   turned    into   blood    for   the 


162  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

Egyptians  is  contrasted  with  the  water  brought  out  of 
the  rock  for  Israel.  There  are  contrasts  between  the 
loathsome  vermin,  the  rain  of  hail,  which  plagued 
Egypt,  and  the  dainty  quails,  and  rain  of  manna,  with 
which  Israel  was  blest.  Noxious  serpents  attacked  both, 
and  death  visited  the  sins  of  both :  but  by  the  brazen 
serpent  Israel's  curse  was  turned  into  a  blessing,  and  at 
the  intercession  of  Phinehas  the  plague  of  Israel  was 
stayed. 

The  plague  of  darkness  is  put  in  contrast  with  the 
pillar  of  fire  which  lightened  Israel  in  the  wilderness 
journeys.  In  connection  with  the  treatment  of  this 
theme  I  may  note  a  feature  of  The  Wisdom  of  Solomon, 
too  important  to  be  passed  over.  In  the  elaboration  of 
his  details  the  author  of  this  work  loves  to  do,  by  method 
of  analysis,  what  poetry  does  by  creation.  Biblical  his- 
tory had  pictured  the  Egyptian  plague  in  the  powerful 
phrase:  "darkness  which  might  be  felt."  The  present 
writer  sets  to  work  to  analyse  and  fill  in  to  his  description 
all  that  the  victims  may  be  supposed  to  have  felt  in  that 
mysterious  visitation.  Haughty  Egyptians,  imagining 
they  hold  a  holy  nation  in  their  power,  suddenly  find 
themselves  prisoners  of  darkness,  bound  in  the  fetters 
of  a  long  night,  exiled  from  the  eternal  providence. 
Others,  seeking  the  close  recesses  men  choose  for  their 
secret  sins,  find  indeed  a  mystic  secrecy  invading  them : 
sundered  each  from  the  other  by  a  dark  curtain  of  for- 
getfulness  they  see,  instead  of  the  loved  face,  spectral 
forms,  striking  awe  in  the  beholder;  rushing  sounds  ring 
around  them,  and  phantoms  appear,  cheerless  with  un- 
smiling faces.  Wildly  they  struggle  for  light:  no  stars 
can  pierce  the  gloom  as  they  look  up;  as  they  kindle 


OLD  TESTAMENT   WISDOM  163 

fire  it  proves  not  strong  enough  to  prevail  over  the  per- 
vading gloom;  and  yet  all  about  them  are  fearful  glim- 
merings of  fire  self-kindled,  until  the  horror  of  what 
they  are  forced  to  see  is  worse  than  the  horror  of  failing 
to  find  the  light  they  seek.  Even  where  no  spectral  form 
confronts,  yet  the  plagues  of  Egypt  are  all  around :  what 
with  creeping  vermin,  and  hissings  of  serpents,  men 
perish  with  trembling,  refusing  to  look  upon  the  air, 
which  can  on  no  side  be  avoided.  Or  some  have 
betaken  themselves  to  peaceful  slumber,  holding  night 
to  be  of  all  things  the  most  powerless,  coming  out  of 
powerless  nothingness :  yet  the  night  for  them  can  be 
haunted  by  dream  monsters,  until  they  feel  the  paralysis 
of  the  soul's  surrendering  in  sleep. 

So  then  every  man,  whosoever  it  might  be,  sinking  down  in 
his  place,  was  kept  in  ward  shut  up,  in  that  prison  which  was 
barred  not  with  iron  :  for  whether  he  were  a  husbandman,  or 
a  shepherd,  or  a  labourer  whose  toils  were  in  the  wilderness, 
he  was  overtaken,  and  endured  that  inevitable  necessity;  for 
with  one  chain  of  darkness  were  they  all  bound.  Whether 
there  were  a  whistling  wind,  or  a  melodious  noise  of  birds 
among  the  spreading  branches,  or  a  measured  fall  of  water 
running  violently,  or  a  harsh  crashing  of  rocks  hurled  down,  or 
the  swift  course  of  animals  bounding  along  unseen,  or  the  voice 
of  wild  beasts  harshly  roaring,  or  an  echo  rebounding  from  the 
hollows  of  the  mountains :  all  these  things  paralysed  them 
with  terror.  For  the  whole  world  beside  was  enlightened  with 
clear  light,  and  was  occupied  with  unhindered  works;  while 
over  them  alone  was  spread  a  heavy  night,  —  an  image  of  the 
darkness  that  should  afterward  receive  them.  But  yet  heavier 
than  darkness  were  they  unto  themselves. 

Space  will  not  allow  me  to  dwell  further  upon  the 
exquisite  ingenuity  with  which  this  writer  works  out  the 
illustrations  of    his  theme;    nor  upon   the    digressions 


164  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

which  touch  topics  as  interesting  as  his  argument;  nor 
the  peroration  which  sees  the  elements  of  nature  inter- 
changing, like  modulations  in  music,  for  the  protection 
and  glory  of  God's  chosen  people.  Enough  has  been 
said  to  bring  out  the  position  of  The  Wisdom  of  Solomon 
in  biblical  philosophy.  The  first  attempt  to  question 
the  meaning  of  the  universe  as  a  whole  had  broken 
down,  under  Ecclesiastes,  in  stormy  scepticism  and  cries 
of  vanity.  But  the  universe  thus  surveyed  had  been  too 
narrow.  Harmony  and  wisdom  are  triumphantly  recov- 
ered by  an  observer  who  draws  in  to  his  field  of  view  all 
nature,  and  finds  it  Law;  all  history,  and  reads  it  as 
Providence;  who  can  see  wisdom  in  all  life,  for  life  to 
him  means  Immortality. 

Wisdom  Dramatised ':   The  Book  of  Job 

The  books  of  wisdom  we  have  so  far  considered  belong 
to  the  literature  of  contemplation :  the  thinker  stands 
apart  from  life  and  views  it  from  without,  a  process  of 
thought  appears  only  when  it  is  completed.  We  now 
come  to  creative  literature:  circumstances  of  actual  life 
are  presented  to  us  while  they  are  yet  happening,  and 
thought  is  uttered  in  the  process  of  thinking.  This 
may  be  expressed  by  the  title,  Wisdom  Dramatised. 
Yet  The  Book  of  Job  is  not  completely  described  by  the 
term  'drama  ' :  the  greater  part  of  it  is  a  dramatic  discus- 
sion, but  the  beginning  and  the  end  —  what  corresponds 
to  the  prologue  and  epilogue  of  ordinary  plays  —  are  in 
the  form  of  narrated  story.  We  may  expect  this  differ- 
ence of  form  to  reflect  a  difference  of  spirit;  and,  in 
actual  fact,  the  solutions  of  life's  mysteries  offered  by  the 


OLD   TESTAMENT    WISDOM  165 

prologue  and  epilogue  are  distinct  from  —  of  course, 
not  antagonistic  to  —  the  solutions  discussed  in  the 
drama.  There  is  another  consideration  more  on  the 
surface.  The  prologue  makes  known  to  the  reader  of 
the  book  certain  circumstances  of  the  case  which  are  not 
known  to  the  personages  who  in  the  drama  enter  into  the 
discussion:  had  they  been  known,  that  discussion  would 
have  been  entirely  different.  It  would  seem  then  that 
the  proper  treatment  for  this  book  is  that  the  reader 
should  first  study  by  itself  the  dramatic  portion,  putting 
himself  in  the  position  of  those  who  are  speaking,  and 
therefore  dismissing  from  his  mind  what  he  has  learned 
from  the  prologue.  When  the  drama  has  thus  been  inter- 
preted by  its  own  light,  then  will  it  be  proper  to  add  to 
this  interpretation  what  new  suggestions  are  conveyed 
by  the  new  matter  of  the  prologue  and  epilogue. 

The  drama  of  Job,  like  so  many  dramas  of  antiquity, 
is  the  expansion  of  a  single  situation.  It  is  a  situation 
exactly  challenging  the  whole  theory  of  life  which  had 
satisfied  wisdom  in  its  first  stage.  The  earlier  wise  men, 
we  have  seen,  looked  upon  God's  universe  as  a  universe 
of  good;  evil  was  an  intruding  element  in  the  good 
world,  and  a  daily  judgment  was  visiting  evil  with 
suffering. 

There  shall  no  mischief  happen  to  the  righteous  : 
But  the  wicked  shall  be  filled  with  evil. 

Now,  in  the  past  Job  has  appeared  a  perfect  character, 
fearing  God  and  eschewing  evil :  he  has  been  crowned 
with  all  good  fortune,  until  he  is  greatest  of  the  children 
of  the  east.  In  a  moment  ruin  has  fallen  upon  him. 
On  one  single  day  messengers  have  brought  news  of  his 


166  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

cattle  carried  away  by  Sabeans,  his  camels  by  Chaldean 
robbers;  fire  from  heaven  has  destroyed  his  sheep,  and 
the  winds  of  the  wilderness  have  crushed  his  family 
beneath  their  own  roof.  Before  he  has  time  to  recover 
from  this  shock,  loathsome  disease  invades  his  body;  he 
creeps  out  of  the  village  as  one  unclean,  and  takes  his 
seat  on  the  ash-mound  with  dogs  and  outcasts.  His 
three  Friends,  wealthy  and  pious  chieftains  like  himself, 
join  him  in  his  misery.  The  ash-mound  becomes  a 
stage,  as  spectators  old  and  young  gather  around  it  to 
behold  and  listen,  and  learn  wisdom  from  this  unpar- 
alleled calamity.  Job  breaks  the  silence,  and  the  drama 
is  opened. 

Who  are  the  speakers  in  this  dramatic  discussion? 
The  three  Friends  are,  for  the  purposes  of  the  argument, 
one:  superficial  differences  of  individuality  vary  the 
exposition  of  their  opinion,  but  the  opinion  of  one  is 
the  opinion  of  all.  Their  position  may  be  expressed  by 
the  term  'rigid  orthodoxy';  as  the  etymology  of  that 
word  suggests,  they  hold  their  view  because  they  believe 
it  a  right  view,  not  in  the  way  of  men  impelled  to  an 
opinion  by  argument,  or  won  by  its  attractiveness.  They 
think  they  are  doing  God  service  by  upholding  ortho- 
doxy against  attack;  they  entirely  ignore  all  that  is  pre- 
sented against  their  position,  while  hesitation  to  accept 
it  they  deem  a  sign  of  moral  declension. 

From  among  the  spectators  around  the  ash-mound 
there  comes  forth  Elihu,  of  the  noble  family  of  Ram; 
he  is  a  young  man,  and  with  difficulty  overcomes  his 
nervousness  at  interposing  in  a  conversation  of  his 
elders.  He  represents  orthodoxy  modified.  The  dif- 
ference between  Elihu' s  position  and  that  of  the  three 


OLD   TESTAMENT   WISDOM  167 

Friends  appears  to  us  small:  Elihu  himself  seems  to 
think  this  modification  all  that  is  needed  for  convinc- 
ing Job.  Once  his  opinion  is  put  forth,  Elihu  holds 
to  it  in  the  spirit  of  the  Friends. 

The  character  of  Job  is  altogether  different :  he  brings 
to  the  discussion  an  open  mind.  Apparently  Job  has, 
in  the  past,  united  in  the  orthodoxy  of  the  others;  but 
now  facts  have  roused  his  thinking  powers,  and  he  has 
the  spiritual  energy  to  cast  off,  at  the  call  of  circum- 
stances, his  most  cherished  beliefs,  not  in  order  to  sub- 
stitute for  them  a  new  belief  —  which  is  comparatively 
easy  —  but  to  maintain  the  more  difficult  attitude  of 
negation,  and  face  the  ways  of  providence  as  an  un- 
solved enigma. 

There  is  yet  another  element  in  the  dramatic  dialogue, 
a  Voice  out  of  the  Whirlwind :  what  is  to  be  regarded 
as  the  significance  of  this  it  will  be  best  to  discuss  later. 

We  must  now  examine  the  ground  taken  by  the  differ- 
ent parties  to  the  discussion,  in  reference  to  this  mystery 
of  suffering  so  powerfully  suggested  by  the  dramatic 
situation.  The  position  of  the  Friends  is  the  theory 
belonging  to  wisdom  literature  in  its  first  stage :  that  all 
suffering  is  judgment  upon  sin.  Nine  speeches  illus- 
trate this  theme  with  every  variety  of  rhetoric  force;  but 
the  theory  itself  undergoes  no  change.  Eliphaz  in  his 
opening1  puts  the  doctrine  as  so  much  comfort  for  Job: 
the  certainty  that  connects  Job's  suffering  with  his  sin 
provides  a  sure  escape  from  the  suffering  by  the  way  of 
repentance.  Bildad  makes  the  doctrine  as  invariable  as 
the  processes  of  nature;  Zophar  thinks  that  to  dispute  it 
is  to  be  wiser  than  God.     When  Job  has  shown  resistance 

1  For  references  throughout,  see  Job  in  the  Appendix. 


168  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

he  is  asked  by  Eliphaz,  in  a  tone  of  indignation,  whether 
he  has  an  insight  into  the  counsels  of  God  hidden  from 
all  otherwise  men.  Bildad  pours  forth  imagery,  Zophar 
accumulates  wise  saws,  to  illustrate  the  certain  over- 
throw of  the  ungodly  in  spite  of  a  momentary  triumph. 
Job  carrying  his  resistance  further  still,  the  Friends  fall 
back  on  other  things  than  argument.  Eliphaz  makes 
suggestion  of  positive  transgressions  into  which  Job 
must  have  fallen,  and  tenderly  counsels  repentance. 
Bildad  dilates  upon  the  unspeakable  greatness  of  the 
God  of  providence.  Finally,  in  a  noble  climax,1 
Zophar  makes  the  whole  edifice  of  wisdom  rest  upon 
the  fear  of  the  Creator  and  his  judgments  upon  sin. 

Elihu's  variation  from  this  position  is  slight;  yet  it  is 
a  real  modification.  To  him  the  connection  between 
sin  and  suffering  is  as  positive  as  it  is  to  the  others.  But 
what  Elihu  elects  to  make  prominent  as  to  suffering  is, 
not  that  it  is  judgment  upon  sin  that  is  past,  but  rather 
how  it  serves  as  warning  against  sin  in  the  future.  The 
truth  is  the  same;  but  it  is  presented  in  the  form  of  mercy 
rather  than  of  judgment.  In  this  attractive  setting  Elihu 
hopes  to  see  the  common  doctrine  winning  the  adher- 
ence of  Job.  We  are  reminded  of  the  way  in  which  the 
son  of  Sirach  restates  the  old  principles  of  judgment  in 
a  form  calculated  to  meet  objections  he  has  encountered. - 

When  we  come  to  Job  himself,  the  first  point  to  be 
noted  is  that  Job,  at  the  outset,  does  not  dispute  the 
doctrine  of  the   Friends.     Eliphaz,   he  complains,   has 

1  For  the  rearrangement  of  speeches  here  followed,  see  in  the 
Appendix ;  and  (more  at  length)  in  the  Job  volume  of  the  Modern 
Reader's  Bible,  page  125.  , 

2  Above,  page  141. 


OLD   TESTAMENT   WISDOM  169 

harshly  interpreted  mere  cries  of  pain  as  if  they  were  a 
theory  of  God's  providential  ways.  Would  Job  lie  to  his 
friends  if  he  were  conscious  of  such  sins  as  would  account 
for  this  utter  ruin?  Sinless  he  never  claims  to  be:  but 
why  cannot  God  pardon  his  sin,  and  let  him  take  com- 
fort before  he  departs  into  the  land  of  darkness?  To 
Bildad's  argument  Job  even  assents:  "  I  know  of  a  truth 
that  it  is  so."  But  how  is  he  to  bring  his  case  before 
the  Divine  Judge?  In  presence  of  that  awful  majesty 
the  innocent  is  as  helpless  as  the  guilty.  His  comforters 
are  but  interested  advocates  for  God :  more  and  more 
Job  appeals,  from  the  advocates  to  God  himself. 
Zophar's  instances  Job  scornfully  accepts,  but  there  are 
other  facts  to  be  explained :  the  tents  of  robbers  prosper 
and  the  just  man  is  made  a  laughing-stock,  and  yet  the 
very  beasts  of  the  field  can  testify  that  the  God  who 
permits  this  is  a  God  of  power. 

But  with  the  movement  of  the  dramatic  discussion  Job 
advances  from  this  first  position.  He  moves  along  two 
distinct  lines  of  thought.  Wisdom  literature  reaches  its 
point  of  highest  dramatic  interest  when  we  examine 
these  two  trains  of  thought,  and  find  that  Job,  on  the 
one  hand,  is  attracted  in  the  direction  of  The  Wisdom 
of  Solomon,  which  assumes  a  future  life  to  set  right  the 
anomalies  of  this  world;  on  the  other  hand,  he  is  driven 
in  the  direction  of  Ecclesiastes,  as  the  universe  appears 
emptied  of  all  meaning,  a  world  in  which  triumph  of 
evil  is  as  patent  as  reward  of  good. 

To  appreciate  the  first  of  these  trains  of  thinking,1  in 
which  we  are  to  see  trembling  into  being  the  first  con- 

1  From  Job's  last  speech  in  the  first  cycle  to  his  second  speech  in  the 
second  cycle  (or  Chapters  xiv-xix). 


170  BIBLICAL    POETRY   AND   PROSE 

ception  of  that  future  life  which  made  the  sure  founda- 
tion of  wisdom  literature  in  its  latest  triumph,  we  must 
grasp  clearly  the  attitude  of  early  thought  to  the  future 
that  is  beyond  the  grave.  'When  we  in  modern  times 
speak  of  life  beyond  death,  we  mean  a  new  life  begin- 
ning with  death.  Antiquity  rather  conceived  of  this 
present  life  continuing,  from  the  moment  of  death,  a 
process  of  decay  and  diminishing  consciousness.  The 
body  at  a  single  moment  is  pronounced  dead,  yet  takes 
time  to  crumble  into  dust;  so  the  soul  in  a  moment  is 
sundered  from  intercourse  with  other  life,  yet  (it  was 
supposed)  in  its  isolation  has  a  gloomy  sense  of  waning 
existence,  before  it  passes  into  utter  nothingness.  Such 
accepted  views  of  death  are  Job's  views  in  his  ordinary 
moments.  Man  is  the  cloud  consuming  and  vanishing 
away;  the  waters  failing  from  the  sea;  the  river  decay- 
ing and  drying  up;  a  tree  may  be  revived  by  healing 
showers,  but  man  lieth  down  and  awakeneth  not  from 
his  sleep  till  the  heavens  shall  be  no  more.  Most  sug- 
gestive is  the  image  of  the  landslip,  that  is  the  work  of 
a  moment,  while  there  follows  the  slow  wearing  away  by 
action  of  air  and  water:  so  is  it  with  man. 

And  surely  the  mountain  falling  cometh  to  naught, 

And  the  rock  is  removed  out  of  its  place, 

The  waters  wear  the  stones, 

The  overflowings  thereof  wash  away  the  dust  of  the  earth  : 

And  thou  destroyest  the  hope  of  man  : 

Thou  prevailest  for  ever  against  him,  and  he  passeth  : 

Thou  changest  his  countenance,  and  sendest  him  away; 

His  sons  come  to  honour,  and  he  knoweth  it  not; 

And  they  are  brought  low,  but  he  perceiveth  it  not  of  them; 

Only  for  himself  \_in  the  grave]  his  flesh  hath  pain, 

And  for  himself  his  soul  mourneth.1 

1  Chapter  xiv.  18-22. 


OLD   TESTAMENT   WISDOM  171 

To  modern  thought  the  final  goal  of  non-existence  is  a 
horror  from  which  we  shrink:  the  theme  of  Job's  first 
utterance1  is  the  dignity  and  rest  of  nothingness. 

For  now  should  I  have  lien  down  and  been  quiet; 

I  should  have  slept;    then  had  I  been  at  rest, 

With  kings  and  counsellors  of  the  earth, 

Which  built  solitary  piles  for  themselves ; 

Or  with  princes  that  had  gold, 

Who  tilled  their  houses  with  silver  .  .  . 

There  the  wicked  cease  from  troubling, 

And  there  the  weary  be  at  rest. 

There  the  prisoners  are  at  ease  together; 

They  hear  not  the  voice  of  the  taskmaster. 

The  small  and  great  are  there; 

And  the  servant  is  free  from  his  master. 

This  accepted  view  of  man's  end  is,  for  Job,  shaken  by 
a  passionate  desire  which  is  more  to  him  than  life  —  the 
vindication  of  his  innocence  against  the  construction  the 
Friends  fasten  upon  his  misfortunes.  The  few  remaining 
moments  of  an  old  man's  life  seem  too  short  to  clear  his 
character:  is  anything  possible  when  life  is  over?  At 
first,  for  a  single  moment  only,  the  idea  flashes  upon  him 
of  the  grave  as  a  hiding  place  until  the  storm  of  provi- 
dential mystery  is  overpast. 

Oh  that  thou  wouldest  hide  me  in  Sheol, 

That  thou  wouldest  keep  me  secret,  until  thy  wrath  be  past, 

That  thou  wouldest  appoint  me  a  set  time  and  remember  me  ! 

—  If  a  man  die,  shall  he  live  again  ?  — 

All  the  days  of  my  warfare  would  I  wait,  till  my  release  should 

come, 
Thou  shouldest  call,  and  I  would  answer  thee; 
Thou  wouldest  have  a  desire  to  the  work  of  thine  hands. 

The  thought  of  vindication   beyond    the  grave  is  here 

1  Chapter  iii.  13. 


172  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

no  more  than  a  passing  fancy,  dismissed  by  an  ejacula- 
tion of  impossibility  even  in  the  course  of  its  utterance. 
But  it  soon  recurs,  and  this  time  has  acquired  a  tone  of 
confidence. 

O  earth,  cover  not  thou  my  blood, 
And  let  my  cry  have  no  resting  place  ! 
Even  now,  behold,  my  Witness  is  in  heaven, 
And  he  that  voucheth  for  me  is  on  high. 

If  the  blood  of  the  victim  crying  to  heaven  for  ven- 
geance is  to  find  a  heavenly  champion,  it  must  be  beyond 
this  life.  But  the  bitter  accusations  continue,  and  Job  is 
deserted  by  all :  despairing  of  all  other  aid,  the  thought 
of  the  rescue  that  is  to  come  from  above  rouses  Job  to 
sure  faith,  and  to  the  solemn  asseveration  that  makes  one 
of  the  climaxes  of  the  whole  poem. 

Oh,  that  my  words  were  now  written ! 

Oh,  that  they  were  inscribed  in  a  book  ! 

That  with  an  iron  pen  and  lead 

They  were  graven  in  the  rock  for  ever ! 

For  I  know  that  MY  vindicator  livkth, 

And  that  he  shall  stand  up  at  the  last  upon  the  earth; 

And  after  my  skin  hath  been  thus  destroyed, 

Yet  without  my  flesh  shall  I  see  God ! 

Whom  I  shall  see  on  my  side, 

And  mine  eyes  shall  behold,  and  not  another. 

By  these  few  steps  Job  is  driven,  in  the  face  of  impossi- 
bility, to  a  faith  in  a  providence  of  vindication  apart  from 
the  flesh,  beyond  the  grave. 

But  in  other  parts  of  the  poem  '  the  sufferer's  thoughts 
are  seen  moving  in  a  very  different  direction.     The  doc- 
trine of  the  never  failing  judgment  on  the  wicked  has 
been  pressed  upon  Job  again  and  again  :  at  last  he  is 
1  From  Job's  third  speech  in  the  second  cycle  (Chapter  xxi). 


OLD  TESTAMENT    WISDOM  173 

driven  to  give  his  whole  mind  to  it,  and  he  finds  his  soul 
agitated  by  rising  doubts. 

Even  when  I  remember  I  am  troubled, 

And  horror  taketh  hold  on  my  flesh. 

Wherefore  do  the  wicked  live, 

Become  old,  yea,  wax  mighty  in  power? 

Their  seed  is  established  with  them  in  their  sight, 

And  their  offspring  before  their  eyes. 

Their  houses  are  safe  from  fear, 

Neither  is  the  rod  of  God  upon  them. 

Their  bull  gendereth,  and  faileth  not, 

Their  cow  calveth,  and  casteth  not  her  calf. 

They  send  forth  their  little  ones  like  a  flock, 

And  their  children  dance. 

In  a  word,  they  spend  their  whole  life  in  prosperity,  and, 
when  they  must  die,  die  all  in  a  moment.  Yet  these  are 
the  men  who  said  unto  God  :  Depart  from  us,  we  desire 
not  the  knowledge  of  thy  ways. 

At  this  challenge  to  the  very  foundations  of  orthodoxy 
the  Friends,  in  great  agitation,  forget  the  dignity  of  de- 
bate, and  break  in  with  interruptions.1  Eliphaz  impa- 
tiently insists  that  there  is  no  security  in  such  delusive 
prosperity  :  — 

Lo,  their  prosperity  is  not  in  their  hand  : 
The  counsel  of  the  wicked  is  far  from  me. 

But  Job  meets  him  with  the  question  :  — 

How  oft  is  it  that  the  lamp  of  the  wicked  is  put  out? 
That  their  calamity  cometh  upon  them? 
That  God  distributeth  sorrows  in  his  anger? 

1  For  these  interruptions,  see  the  text  (of  Chapter  xxi)  as  printed  in 
The  Modern  Reader's  Bible,  pages  62-63,  ami  the  defence  of  this  arrange- 
ment, page  127. 


174  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

Bildad  cries  :  — 

God  layeth  up  his  iniquity  for  his  children. 

But  Job  retorts  :  — 

Let  him  recompense  it  unto  himself,  that  he  may  know  it. 

Let  his  own  eyes  see  his  destruction, 

And  let  him  drink  of  the  wrath  of  the  Almighty. 

For  what  pleasure  hath  he  in  his  house  after  him, 

When  the  number  of  his  months  is  cut  off  in  the  midst? 

Zophar  is  deeply  shocked. 

Shall  any  teach  God  knowledge, 
Seeing  he  judgeth  those  that  are  high? 

Job  simply  confronts  him  with  the  facts. 

One  dieth  in  his  full  strength, 

Being  wholly  at  ease  and  quiet : 

His  breasts  are  full  of  milk, 

And  the  marrow  of  his  bones  is  moistened. 

And  another  dieth  in  bitterness  of  soul, 

And  never  tasteth  of  good. 

They  lie  down  alike  in  the  dust, 

And  the  worm  covereth  them. 

The  Friends  are  still  eager  to  interpose,  but  Job  waves 
them  off.  He  knows  their  thoughts,  and  the  old  sen- 
tences about  the  tent  of  the  wicked  vanishing.  But  will 
they  not  "  ask  them  that  go  by  the  way,"  and  learn 
experience  of  actual  life  :  how  that  the  wicked  is  spared 
in  the  day  of  calamity,  and  is  borne  to  a  peaceful  grave  ? 
The  debate  falls  back  into  its  regular  order,  and  Eli- 
phaz  passes  from  theory  to  open  suggestions  of  sin  on 
the  part  of  Job.  For  answer,  Job  appeals  to  a  Vindicator 
above  :  then,  in  quiet  and  orderly  exposition,  opens  out 
this  new  view,  that  the  times  of  the  Almighty  are  not 
found  in  life  by  those  who  look  for  them.     We  get  a 


OLD   TESTAMENT   WISDOM  175 

complete  evolution  of  social  evil  in  this  speech  of  Job.1 
He  commences  with  the  encroachments  of  private  prop- 
erty upon  the  common  land ;  the  feebler  people  are 
driven  to  a  life  of  hard  labour,  or  the  meagre  subsistence 
of  the  wilderness. 

There  are  that  remove  the  landmarks  .  .  . 

They  turn  the  needy  out  of  the  way  : 

The  poor  of  the  earth  hide  themselves  together. 

Behold,  as  wild  asses  in  the  desert  they  go  forth  to  their  work, 

Seeking  diligently  for  meat; 

The  wilderness  yieldeth  them  food  for  their  children. 

Poverty  necessitates  borrowing,  the  oppression  of  usury 
is  added  to  the  burdens  of  the  poor. 

They  drive  away  the  ass  of  the  fatherless, 
They  take  the  widow's  ox  for  a  pledge. 

Poverty  is  the  more  bitter  from  contrast  with  the  luxury 
of  which  it  is  forced  to  be  the  minister. 

They  cut  his  provender  in  the  field, 
And  they  glean  the  vintage  of  the  wicked  .  .  . 
And  being  an-hungered  they  carry  the  sheaves. 
They  make  oil  within  the  walls  of  these  men; 
They  tread  their  winepresses,  and  suffer  thirst. 

In  due  course  we  get  the  massing  together  of  the  labour- 
ing population,  and  the  violence  of  city  life. 

Erom  out  of  the  populous  city  men  groan, 
And  the  soul  of  the  wounded  crieth  out : 
Yet  God  imputeth  it  not  for  folly. 

Finally,  we  have  the  evolution  of  a  criminal  class,  who 
have  broken  altogether  with  the  light,  so  that  the  sweet 
day-dawn  comes  to  them  as  a  shadow  of  death  :  mur- 

1  Chapter  xxiv. 


176  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND    PROSK 

derers  rising  with  first  light  from  deeds  of  blood,  thieves 
digging  through  houses  in  the  darkness,  the  adulterer 
waiting  for  the  twilight.  Meanwhile,  are  the  oppressors 
swept  away  by  fierce  floods  ?  or  dried  up  as  by  the  drought 
of  summer  ?     Nay,  — 

God  by  his  power  maketh  the  mighty  to  continue; 

They  rise  up,  when  they  believed  not  that  they  should  live. 

So  far  is  Job  thus  carried  in  his  meditations  upon  social 
evil  that  he  seems  to  reach  the  position  of  Ecclesiastes, 
the  belief  that  the  seasons  of  things  are  reversed,  wicked- 
ness being  found  in  the  place  of  judgment :  in  other 
words,  that  the  impunity  of  the  wicked  is  as  much  a  way 
of  providence  as  judgment  upon  sin. 

But  when  the  Friends,  and  Elihu,  and  Job  himself 
have  worked  out  their  various  trains  of  thinking,  yet 
another  speaker  is  added  to  this  wonderful  drama.  In 
the  latter  part  of  Elihu's  speech l  his  thoughts  are  seen  to 
be  engrossed  with  phenomena  of  the  heavens  around  and 
above  him ;  the  dramatic  scene  is  changing,  and  soon 
the  ash-mound  is  the  centre  of  a  tempest.  At  last  the 
roar  of  the  whirlwind  is  recognised  as  the  Voice  of  God. 

It  is  just  at  this  point  of  The  Book  of  Job  that  the 
utmost  care  is  necessary  in  order  to  prevent  misinter- 
pretation of  what  is  to  follow.  Errors  of  various  kinds 
are  to  be  avoided.  For  one  :  it  may  seem  natural  to 
some  readers,  especially  to  those  familiar  with  the 
'  Divine  Intervention '  in  Greek  tragedies,  to  expect  that, 
when  God  condescends  to  speak,  what  is  said  will  be  the 
solution  of  the  mystery  which  has  proved  too  hard  for 

1  From  xxxvi.  22 ;  see  Modern  Reader  s  Bible,  pages  102-106,  and 
notes  on  pages  172-175. 


OLD   TKSTAMKN  1     WISDOM  177 

the  other  speakers.  But  this  is  not  found  to  be  the  case 
in  the  present  poem  :  whatever  else  this  conclusion  of 
the  drama  may  mean,  it  certainly  leaves  the  suffering  of 
the  righteous  a  mystery  still.  And,  indeed,  this  is  involved 
in  the  very  literary  form  of  the  work.  The  dramatic 
portion  of  Job  is  wisdom  literature,  which  has  no  founda- 
tion except  observation  of  life  :  what  light  comes  upon 
life's  mysteries  from  the  supernatural  world  is  reserved 
for  the  prologue.  Thus,  though  Deity  is  the  speaker  in 
this  scene,  he  speaks  nothing  but  what  man  may  learn  by 
his  own  observation. 

Again,  it  is  common  to  understand  the  significance  of 
the  Divine  Intervention  to  be  the  anger  of  the  Almighty 
at  Job's  daring  to  question  his  judgments.  This  view 
is  impossible,  since  in  the  epilogue  God  justifies  Job 
and  is  displeased  with  the  Friends  :  yet  it  was  the  Friends 
who  denied  the  right  to  question  the  judgments  of  Provi- 
dence, while  Job  had  insisted  on  questioning.  If  this  sug- 
gestion be  modified  so  far  as  to  make  the  point  of  the 
Divine  speech  the  impossibility  of  fathoming  the  dispensa- 
tions of  heaven,  then  we  may  admit  that  this  is  part  of 
what  is  said.  But  such  an  explanation  gives  no  inde- 
pendent significance  to  this  final  section  of  the  drama, 
since  all  the  speakers,  and  notably  Job,  have  dilated  on 
the  inscrutability  of  God's  dealings. 

To  reach  the  true  interpretation  of  the  Divine  Inter- 
vention we  must  not  be  content  with  the  mere  fact  that 
Deity  interposes,  but  must  examine  in  full  detail  the 
elaborate  speech  that  is  put  into  the  mouth  of  God. 
The  result  comes  as  a  surprise.  Except  a  single  brief 
reference  J  to  God  as  the  power  that  brings  low  the  proud 

1  Chapter  xl.  7-14. 


178  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND   PROSE 

and  treads  down  the  wicked,  all  the  rest  of  this  lengthy 
outpouring  is  occupied  with  the  Providence  of  the  world 
external  to  man.  Though  Deity  speaks,  only  one  aspect 
of  Deity  stands  revealed  :  the  Lord  answers  out  of  the 
whirlwind,  and  the  God  of  the  Divine  Intervention  ap- 
pears as  the  Soul  of  External  Nature. 

We  must  carry  our  examination  a  step  farther  yet.  In 
this  utterance  of  the  God  of  Nature  not  even  the  whole 
of  Nature  finds  a  place.  All  that  may  be  seen  in  exter- 
nal nature  of  destruction  and  cruel  strife,  all  that  waste  in 
which  nature  seems  so  careless  of  individuals  in  order  to 
be  careful  of  type,  all  that  a  New  Testament  writer 
describes  as  the  whole  creation  groaning  and  travailing 
together  in  pain  :  all  this  is  entirely  absent  from  the 
presentation  of  nature  in  Job.  We  find  only  a  mystery 
of  joy  and  power  and  sympathy,  a  world-wide  sympathy 
by  which  all  that  is  highest  or  most  trifling  is  swallowed 
up  in  the  jubilant  consciousness  of  creative  omnipotence. 
There  pass  before  our  vision  the  mystic  building  of  earth, 
with  the  morning  stars  all  around  singing  for  joy \  the 
making  of  cloud-wraps  for  the  newly  born  ocean  ;  the  day- 
spring  taking  hold  of  the  ends  of  the  earth  and  shaking 
the  wicked  out  of  their  place,  while  the  monotonous  sur- 
face below  takes  definiteness  as  clay  changing  under  the 
seal,  and  the  landscape  stands  out  as  a  figured  garment. 
Mysteries  of  life  and  death,  of  light,  darkness,  and  the 
horizon  that  parts  them,  are  lightly  touched.  Snow  and 
hail  reserved  as  in  heaven's  treasury  against  a  day  of  bat- 
tle, forkings  of  lightnings,  scattering  of  east  wind,  chan- 
nels of  water  floods  —  these  are  the  daily  joy  of  omnipo- 
tence, that  forgets  not  even  the  solitary  desert  where  no 
man  is,  but  delights  it  with  tender  grass.     Alike  the  won- 


OLD    1  ESTAMENT    WISDOM  179 

ders  of  the  moving  stars  and  the  sport  of  the  dust  clods 
when  the  bottles  of  heaven's  feast  are  poured  out,  alike 
the  lioness  hunting  prey  and  the  wild  goats  rearing  their 
families  among  the  rocks,  alike  the  wild  ass  exulting  in 
wilderness  freedom  and  the  ox  abiding  patiently  by  his 
crib  at  home  :  all  things  great  and  small  have  a  place  in 
the  joy  of  Deity.  The  ostrich,  so  foolish  that  she  cannot 
preserve  her  own  young,  has  yet  her  pride  when  she  out- 
strips the  horse  and  his  rider.  The  war  horse  knows  no 
more  fear  than  his  rider  :  — 

He  swalloweth  the  ground  with  fierceness  and  rage; 
Neither  standeth  he  still  at  the  voice  of  the  trumpet. 
As  oft  as  the  trumpet  soundeth  he  saith,  Aha  ! 
And  he  smelleth  the  battle  afar  off. 

On  the  borderland  of  nature  still  greater  wonders  speak 
the  Creator's  joyous  omnipotence  :  a  behemoth,  with  tail 
as  a  cedar,  bones  as  tubes  of  brass  and  limbs  like  bars  of 
iron,  unconcerned  amid  the  swellings  of  Jordan  ;  levia- 
than, one  complete  panoply  against  all  human  arts  of 
destruction,  breathing  smoke  and  flame,  with  the  ocean 
seething  white  around  him. 

When  this  self-revelation  of  the  God  of  Nature  stands 
before  us  in  its  fulness,  we  are  able  to  see  how  it  finds  a 
place  in  this  drama.  Alike  Job  and  his  friends  have 
been  confining  their  attention  to  the  mystery  of  evil,  and 
its  burden  has  become  insupportable.  What  the  Voice 
out  of  the  Whirlwind  does  for  them  is  to  remind  how  the 
great,  the  good,  the  magnificent  and  sublime  in  nature,  is 
shrouded  in  the  same  mystery  that  surrounds  evil.  The 
mystery  of  evil  is  not  solved,  but  mystery  itself  is  ele- 
vated until  it  ceases  to  be  a  burden.     The  innocent  suf- 


180  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

ferer  may  turn  from  the  dark  providence  of  his  own  case, 
and  refresh  his  strength  in  the  contemplation  of  glorious 
mysteries  all  around  him.  So  it  is  with  Job.  As  long  as 
he  merely  had  suffering  to  endure,  the  sufferer  met  this 
with  ideal  patience  ;  it  was  when  false  meanings  were 
read  into  his  ruin  that  Job's  faith  broke  down  in  weary 
complainings.  When  the  shock  of  whirlwind  interpreta- 
tion changes  the  current  of  his  thoughts,  he  returns  to 
more  than  his  first  faith. 

I  had  heard  of  thee  by  the  hearing  of  the  ear; 
But  now  mine  eye  seeth  thee  : 
Wherefore  I  abhor  myself, 
And  repent  in  dust  and  ashes. 

Some  have  inquired  at  this  point,  Of  what  then  does  Job 
repent?  But  it  must  be  remembered  that  from  the  out- 
set Job  has  never  claimed  to  be  sinless.  Conscious  of 
freedom  from  such  crimes  as  would  justify  his  ruin,  he 
has  passionately  desired  to  come  into  the  presence  of  the 
Divine  Judge.  But  in  that  presence  even  the  faintest 
sense  of  sin  abhors  itself  in'  dust  and  ashes. 

The  whole  dramatic  portion  of  Job  has  now  been 
covered.  Side  by  side  with  its  moral  impressiveness,  we 
cannot  fail  to  catch  the  literary  interest  of  the  poem  as  a 
dramatisation  of  wisdom  literature.  The  dogma  of  judg- 
ment, which  enabled  wisdom  in  its  first  stage  to  maintain 
a  philosophic  calm  by  ignoring  the  real  difficulties  of  life, 
is  here  confronted  by  an  actual  experience  which  directly 
challenges  it.  The  resulting  movement  of  thought  car- 
ries us,  now  in  the  direction  of  sacred  philosophy  in  its 
stage  of  storm  and  stress,  when  the  universe  seemed  a 
mystery  of  contradictions ;  now  in  the  direction  of  that 


OLD  TESTAMEN1    WISDOM  181 

later  triumph  of  wisdom  which  explained  this  world  by 
the  light  of  the  world  to  come.  And  the  finale  turns 
back  to  the  other  side  of  primitive  wisdom,  which  supple- 
mented its  observations  of  human  life  by  unquestioning 
contemplation  of  God's  whole  creation,  and  found  it,  as 
its  Creator  had  found  it,  very  good. 

We  may  now  turn  to  the  narrative  story  which  serves 
as  prologue  and  epilogue  to  the  drama  of  Job.  The 
scene  enlarges  to  take  in  heaven ;  we  pass  outside  the 
wisdom  literature  that  observes  human  life,  and  have 
unveiled  to  us  mysteries  of  the  supernatural  world.  It 
may  be  asked,  to  what  type  of  literature,  if  not  to  wisdom, 
are  the  prologue  and  epilogue  of  this  book  to  be  referred  ? 
The  answer  to  this  question  involves  the  answer  to  another. 
Are  we  to  understand  the  two  opening  chapters  as  a  nar- 
rative of  events  which  actually  occurred  ?  or  are  they  part 
of  the  parable  which  the  rest  of  the  book  dramatises  ?  I 
know  no  means  of  settling  that  question  :  nor  is  it  neces- 
sary. If  the  opening  story  is  a  story  of  what  has  actually 
occurred,  then  the  prologue  to  Job  is  in  the  highest  sense 
prophecy  :  it  brings  a  revelation  of  truth  direct  from  God 
himself.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  incident  of  the  coun- 
cil in  heaven  is  only  imagined  as  part  of  a  parable,  then 
this  may  be  called  poetic  speculation  —  reverent  specula- 
tion upon  mysteries  of  providence.  Wisdom  literature, 
however,  is  not  speculation  as  to  what  may  be,  but 
observation  as  to  what  is. 

It  is  convenient  first  to  deal  with  the  brief  epilogue. 
This  narrates  that  the  anger  of  the  Lord  was  kindled 
against  the  Friends  of  Job,  because  they  had  not  said  of 
him  the  thing  that  was  right,  as   his  servant  Job  had. 


182  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

Thus  the  reverent  boldness  of  Job,  that  could  appeal  from 
God's  judgments  to  God's  justice,  was  more  acceptable 
to  him  than  the  servile  adoration  of  the  Friends,  who  had 
sought  to  bend  the  facts  in  order  to  magnify  God.  God 
himself  has  no  higher  interest  than  the  truth. 

In  our  study  of  the  prologue,  we  are  at  the  very  com- 
mencement encountered  by  a  serious  obstacle  —  a  popu- 
lar and  widespread  misunderstanding,  that  rests  upon 
an  infelicity  in  the  received  translations.  It  is  written 
how  the  sons  of  God  came  to  present  themselves  before 
the  Lord,  and  "Satan"  came  also  among  them.  Even 
in  King  James's  version  the  margin  offers  the  alternative 
"or  the  Adversary."  But  the  difference  between  these 
two  readings  is  immense.  The  Hebrew  word  Satan 
means  adversary:  but  it  is  used  in  different  parts  of 
Scripture  in  two  very  different  ways.  Sometimes  it  ap- 
pears as  a  proper  name  :  Satan,  the  Adversary  of  God 
and  author  of  evil.  In  other  places  the  word  is  only  a 
title  of  an  office  —  the  Satan  or  Adversary:  in  no  way 
hostile  to  God,  but  an  ' adversary'  in  the  sense  that  an 
overseer  or  inspector  is  for  the  time  being  the  adversary 
of  those  he  oversees  or  inspects.  The  Hebrew  concep- 
tion was  that  under  God  the  supreme  judge  there  were 
viceroys,  called  sometimes  '  the  holy  ones,'  sometimes 
'  sons  of  God  '  or  even  '  gods.'  Sometimes  they  appear 
to  have  different  worlds  for  their  provinces  :  — 

When  the  morning  stars  sang  together, 
And  all  the  sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy.1 

In  other  places  peoples  of  the  earth  are  their  charge. 
Thus  in  the  eighty-second  psalm  we  have  an  arraignment 
of  these  supernatural  viceroys  of  God. 

1  Job  xxxviii.  7. 


OLD  TESTAMENT   WISDOM  183 

God  standeth  in  the  congregation  of  God; 
Hejudgeth  among  the  gods. 

The  supreme  God  inveighs  against  the  moral  confusion 
that  reigns  through  the  earth,  and    threatens  the  slack 

overseers. 

I  said,  Ye  are  gods, 
And  all  of  you  sons  of  the  Most  High. 
Nevertheless  ye  shall  die  like  men, 
And  fall  like  one  of  the  princes. 

The  superhuman  character  of  these  world-overseers  is 
shown  in  the  fact  that  the  punishment  threatened  is 
their  degradation  to  the  rank  of  mortals.  So  the  Satan 
or  Adversary  in  the  prologue  to  Job  comes  amongst  the 
sons  of  God  ;  there  is  no  difference  between  his  recep- 
tion and  the  reception  of  the  rest.  These  have  come 
from  their  several  provinces ;  the  Satan  reports  himself 
as  Inspector  of  Earth  :  he  comes  "  from  going  to  and 
fro  in  the  earth  and  walking  up  and  down  in  it."  If 
misleading  associations  from  the  other  use  of  the  word 
"Satan"  are  dismissed,  it  will  be  seen  that  there  is  noth- 
ing malignant  in  the  action  attributed  to  this  official  of 
heaven.  He  simply  performs  the  duty  of  his  office  when 
he  raises  the  question  of  the  true  meaning  of  Job's  piety  : 
it  is  the  office  of  an  inspector  to  suspect.  It  is  indeed 
from  the  lips  of  this  Adversary  that  we  are  to  receive  the 
highest  interpretation  of  the  mystery  of  suffering. 

When  once  this  misunderstanding  has  been  cleared 
out  of  the  way,  the  narrative  becomes  luminous  with  sug- 
gestion. In  the  councils  of  heaven  the  province  of  Earth 
is  under  review,  and  God  instances  Job  as  a  type  of  per- 
fect service.  The  Inspector  of  Earth,  as  in  duty  bound, 
puts  the  possibility  that  what  seems  to  be  perfection  may 


184  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

be  only  policy.  Job  has  had  a  life  of  unbroken  prosperity  : 
according  to  the  doctrine  of  judgment  —  that  righteous- 
ness brings  prosperity  and  sin  brings  ruin  —  Job  may 
have  only  been  manifesting  enlightened  self-interest,  in 
continuing  the  conduct  which  has  seemed  so  well  re- 
warded. If  however  he  were  to  be  visited  with  adver- 
sity, there  would  be  a  chance  for  Job  to  show  whether 
he  would  cling  to  goodness  when  goodness  brought  no 
reward.  The  experiment  is  permitted  ;  for  life  is  a  state 
of  probation.  Job  is  suddenly  overwhelmed  with  ruin : 
he  does  not  merely  accept  the  ruin,  but  makes  it  an 
occasion  for  remembering  the  giver  of  the  happiness  he 

has  lost. 

The  Lord  gave,  and  the  Lord  hath  taken  away : 
Blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord. 

In  the  council  of  heaven  that  follows  the  Adversary  honours 
the  constancy  of  Job  by  advancing  a  still  severer  test,  and 
is  permitted  to  smite  the  patriarch  with  loathsome  dis- 
ease. Even  the  good  wife  of  Job  loses  faith  at  last,  and 
bids  her  husband  renounce  all  belief  in  God.  Not  so 
Job :  he  asks,  Shall  we  receive  good  at  the  hand  of  God, 
and  shall  we  not  receive  evil?  The  experiment  has  been 
complete,  and  probationary  suffering  may  be  withdrawn  ; 
when  the  narrative  is  resumed  in  the  epilogue,  it  is  told 
how  all  his  prosperity  returned  to  Job,  and  he  waxed 
greater  than  before. 

Thus  the  prologue  to  Job  has  opened  out  a  higher  view 
of  suffering  than  any  that  appears  in  the  dramatic  dis- 
cussion. In  the  councils  of  heaven,  where  the  ways  of 
providence  are  determined  upon,  suffering  is  seen  em- 
ployed as  a  test  of  saintship ;  the  unmerited  troubles  of 
the    good    are   the   Only  means  whereby  they  have    the 


OLD  TESTAMENT   WISDOM  185 

opportunity  of  showing  whether  they  love  good  for  its 
own  sake,  or  whether  they  have  only  been  following  right 
because  they  believe  it  brings  happiness.  It  was  from  zeal 
for  the  righteousness  of  providence  that  the  three  Friends 
and  Elihu  contended  for  their  doctrine  of  judgment  :  that 
fate  is  always  determined  by  character.  They  fail  to  see 
that  if  this  were  so  —  if  there  were  an  invariable  connec- 
tion between  right  action  and  prosperity,  wrong  action  and 
ruin  —  then  goodness  in  the  highest  sense  would  be  im- 
possible ;  man  would  have  no  moral  choice  between  right 
and  wrong,  but  only  a  question  of  self-interest  as  between 
prosperity  and  suffering.  It  is  the  breaches  in  the  law 
of  retribution  —  the  wicked  often  allowed  to  prosper, 
while  the  righteous  must  suffer  the  penalties  of  the 
wicked  —  that  make  the  final  sifting,  between  those  who 
are  simply  wise,  and  those  who  are  truly  good.  Job  in 
the  midst  of  his  perfect  life  is  visited  with  ruin  :  he  rises 

higher  — 

Though  he  slay  me,  I  will  trust  him. 

The  three  children  of  Babylon  are  confronted  with  the 
fiery  furnace  for  their  piety ;  they  are  speaking  their  past 
convictions  when  they  say, — 

Our  God  whom  we  serve  is  able  to  deliver  us  from  the  burn- 
ing fiery  furnace,  — 

but  they  rise  higher  in  the  crisis  of  judgment,  and  face 
the  other  alternative,  — 

but  if  not,  be  it  known  unto  thee,  O  king,  that  we  will  not 
serve  thy  gods. 

The  highest  point  that  can  be  reached  by  wisdom,  with 
its  reflections  on  human  life,  is  an  enlightened  conception 
of  retribution  :   Righteousness  is  the  way  to  prosperity, 


186  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND   PROSE 

if  not  here,  then  hereafter.  But  the  prologue  to  Job 
opens  out  a  higher  conception  still :  Righteousness, 
though  at  the  cost  of  prosperity.  Beyond  wisdom  there 
is  faith. 

Such  then  is  The  Book  of  Job.  Its  central  part  draws 
into  a  single  dramatic  movement  all  the  varying  aspects 
of  wisdom,  the  wisdom  that  founds  itself  upon  observa- 
tion of  life.  The  prologue  and  epilogue  rise  beyond 
wisdom,  to  the  faith  that  can  penetrate  into  the  mysteries 
of  the  supernatural. 


CHAPTER   VI 

NEW  TESTAMENT   WISDOM 

In  the  ordinary  acceptance  of  the  term,  the  wisdom 
literature  of  Holy  Scripture  is  limited  to  books  of  the  Old 
Testament  and  Apocrypha.  Yet  three  books  of  the 
New  Testament  may  profitably  be  read  in  this  connec- 
tion, although  it  must  be  said  at  once  that  for  two  out  of 
the  three  the  term  '  wisdom  literature  '  would  be  an  im- 
perfect description.  The  appearance  of  Jesus  Christ  upon 
earth  has  effected  a  vast  revolution  in  human  thought ; 
not  so  much  in  the  thoughts  men  may  think,  as  in  what 
men  actually  do  think.  The  philosophic  tone  of  mind 
which  realises  itself  in  wisdom  must  have  felt  this  revolu- 
tion. It  is  not  surprising,  then,  to  find  that  one  of  the 
New  Testament  epistles,  and  two  of  the  gospels,  differ 
from  other  gospels  and  epistles  in  the  degree  in  which 
they  approach  the  literary  character  of  philosophy  or 
wisdom.  These  three  works  are  the  subject  of  the  pres- 
ent chapter. 

Wisdom  Christianised :   The  Epistle  of  St.  James 

In  this  work  there  is  nothing  of  the  epistle  except  the 
superscription.  The  regular  order  of  thought  which 
appears  in  Hebrews  or  Romans  is  lacking ;  nor  is  there 
a  trace  of  that  reference  to  affairs  of  particular  churches 
which  characterises  the  pastoral  epistles.     Like  the  Old 

187 


188  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

Testament  books  of  wisdom,  this  epistle  is  a  miscellany 
of  sayings,  essays,  and  discourses.  The  topics  are  such 
as  these  : 1  The  Joy  of  Temptation,  The  Prayer  for  Wis- 
dom, On  Respect  of  Persons,  Faith  and  Works,  The 
Judgment  to  Come.  The  book  is  thus  a  collection  of 
meditations  on  life,  as  life  is  lived  among  the  followers  of 
Christ.     It  is  Wisdom  Christianised. 

Of  the  other  books  of  wisdom  Ecclesiasticus  is  the  one 
which  St.  James's  epistle  most  resembles.  Indeed,  every 
reader  of  the  two  books  is  struck  by  the  way  in  which 
St.  James  has  meditated  upon  and  absorbed  the  thoughts 
of  the  son  of  Sirach.  It  would  be  easy  by  parallel  pas- 
sages to  bring  out  the  close  resemblance  of  the  two 
writers.  It  is  more  important  to  bring  out  their  differ- 
ences. 

Ecclesiasticus  moralises  upon  a  world  bounded  by 
death.  There  is  not  so  much  as  the  thought  of  a  future 
life  :  where  the  son  of  Sirach  sees  his  doctrine  of  the 
judgment  on  sin  contradicted  by  facts,  he  looks  for  its 
vindication  no  farther  than  the  posterity  of  the  sinner  in 
the  next  generation.2  At  a  later  stage  of  Old  Testament 
wisdom  immortality  is  recognised,  and  made  "a  foundation 
for  wisdom.3  Of  course,  in  the  Christian  thought  of  St. 
James  the  future  immortality  is  an  article  of  faith.  But 
St.  James  goes  farther  than  this.  Not  only  is  there  a 
judgment  to  come,  but  it  is  close  at  hand.  The  apostle 
speaks  as  one  of  those  who  are  living  in  the  last  days,  for 
whom  it  is  folly  to  say,  To-day  or  to-morrow  we  will  go 
into  this  city  and  spend  a  year  there  and  trade  and  get 

!For  references,  see  in  the  Appendix. 

2  Especially  the  Essay  I,  xliv,  i.e.  Chapter  xi.  11-28. 

8  Above,  page  155,  Wisdom  of  Solomon. 


NKW    TKMAMl.N  I'    WISDOM  1S9 

gain.  To  his  suffering  brethren  he  cries  that  the  coming 
of  the  Lord  is  at  hand,  that  the  "judge  standeth  before 
the  doors."  The  old  wisdom  maxims  of  rich  and  poor 
become  charged  with  tenfold  force  at  this  final  moment 
of  time.  The  luxurious  oppressors  of  the  poor  are  fools 
investing  in  a  future  they  are  never  to  see.  "  Ye  have 
laid  up  your  treasure  in  the  last  days." 

One  feature  separated  Ecclesiasticus  from  the  rest  even 
of  Old  Testament  wisdom.  Most  of  the  wisdom  writings 
reflect  on  life  in  general,  rather  than  the  special  life  of 
Israel.  The  son  of  Sirach  is  an  enthusiastic  Israelite  ; 
and  the  centre  of  his  veneration  is  the  Law.  It  is  he 
who  poetically  imagines  !  Wisdom  wandering  lonely  over 
the  whole  creation,  until  its  Author  bids  her  find  a  taber- 
nacle in  Jacob ;  dropping  poetry  for  prose  the  son  of 
Sirach  adds  :  — 

All  these  things  are  the  book  of  the  covenant  of  the  Most 
High  God,  even  the  law  which  Moses  commanded  us  for  a 
heritage  unto  the  assemblies  of  Jacob. 

Now  St.  James  also  is  forever  exalting  "  law"  :  but  with 
him  it  is  "  the  law  of  liberty."  The  first  burning  question 
of  the  Christian  church  had  been  the  relation  of  its  con- 
verts to  the  Mosaic  system,  and  with  difficulty  had  been 
won  the  doctrine  of  freedom  from  such  law.  To  too 
many  Christians  of  that  age  this  freedom  came  as  a 
reaction  to  license.  To  St.  James  this  liberty  is  a  deeper 
and  more  binding  law :  a  heart  devotion  in  place  of 
superficial  conformity.  He  exalts  "  the  perfect  law,  the 
law  of  liberty." 

Not  only  was  the  author  of  Ecclesiasticus  a  worshipper 

1  Preface  to  Book  II  (see  in  the  Appendix),  or  Chapter  xxiv. 


190  BIBLICAL    POETRY   AND   PROSE 

of  the  Law,  but  he  exalts  above  all  men  the  scribes, 
whose  business  is  to  expound  this  law  of  Moses.  In  his 
most  elaborate  essay l  he  pours  contempt  upon  the  idea 
that  '  wisdom  '  is  possible  for  him  who  holds  the  plough, 
for  the  artificer  and  workmaster,  the  smith  or  potter. 
These  have  indeed  a  lower  wisdom  of  their  own. 

All  these  put  their  trust  in  their  hands;  and  each  hecometh 
wise  in  his  own  work.  ...  In  the  handywork  of  their  craft 
is  their  prayer. 

As  against  such  classes  of  men  the  son  of  Sirach  exalts 
the  men  of  leisure,  who  can  apply  themselves  to  the  law 
of  the  Most  High.  The  scribe  upholds  his  order  as  an 
aristocracy  of  wisdom  :  his  successors  in  St.  James's  day 
would  cry,  The  people  that  knoweth  not  the  law  is  ac- 
cursed. Very  different  is  the  tone  of  the  New  Testament 
epistle. 

My  brethren, hold  not  the  faith  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the 
Lord  of  Glory,  with  respect  of  persons.  For  if  there  come 
into  your  synagogue  a  man  with  a  gold  ring,  in  fine  clothing, 
and  there  come  in  also  a  poor  man  in  vile  clothing;  and  ye 
have  regard  to  him  that  weareth  the  fine  clothing,  and  say,  Sit 
thou  here  in  a  good  place;  and  ye  say  to  the  poor  man, 
Stand  thou  there,  or  sit  under  my  footstool;  do  ye  not  make 
distinctions  among  yourselves,  and  become  judges  with  evil 
thoughts?  Hearken,  my  beloved  brethren;  did  not  God 
choose  them  that  are  poor  as  to  the  world  to  be  rich  in  faith? 

St.  James  also  distinguishes  two  wisdoms  :  but  the  one  is 
the  wisdom  that  cometh  from  above,  pure,  peaceable, 
gentle.  The  aristocratic  spirit  of  the  scribe  he  would 
have  relegated  to  the  other  wisdom,  which  is  "  earthly, 
sensual,  devilish." 

But  there  was  another  side,  as  we  have  seen,  to  early 

1  III,  xv  (see  in  the  Appendix) ,  or  Chapter  xxxviii.  24. 


NEW   TESTAMENT    WISDOM  191 

wisdom,  when  it  turned  from  reflection  on  details  of  life 
to  contemplate,  in  a  tone  of  adoration,  the  universe  as 
a  whole.  The  counterpart  of  this  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment epistle  is,  not  adoration,  but  reverent  speculation 
as  to  foundation  mysteries  of  life.  The  profoundest 
writing  of  St.  James  is  his  essay  on  the  Origin  of  Evil 
and  Good  in  Man.1  It  starts  with  the  topic  of  tempta- 
tion, by  which  the  presence  in  us  of  the  conflicting  prin- 
ciples is  brought  to  the  surface.  The  oldest  wisdom  had 
recognised  how  evil  is  a  thing  foreign  to  God's  creation. 
So  St.  James  insists  that  God,  whose  nature  cannot  be 
tempted  with  evil,  cannot  be  the  foundation  of  tempta- 
tion on  earth.     Its  origin  is  thus  expressed. 

Each  man  is  tempted,  when  he  is  drawn  away  by  his  own 
lust,  and  enticed.  Then  the  lust,  when  it  hath  conceived, 
beareth  sin  :  and  the  sin,  when  it  is  fullgrown,  bringeth  forth 
death. 

The  image  of  childbirth  is  employed.  One  parent  is 
the  individual  will ;  the  other  parentage  is  left  vague. 
There  is  the  due  period  of  gestation,  and  sin  is  born. 
But  the  image  is  carried  forward,  as  it  were,  to  a  second 
generation,  and  sin  then  bears  death.  The  literary 
reader  will  remember  how  this  thought  of  St.  James  is 
made  by  Milton  the  foundation  of  a  noble  myth.  Satan, 
on  his  journey  to  introduce  temptation  on  earth,  is  en- 
countered at  Hell  gate  by  the  forms  of  Sin  and  Death. 
Satan  and  the  monster  Death  are  on  the  verge  of  con- 
flict, when  the  form  of  Sin  rushes  between,  and  hails  the 
two  as  father  and  son.  To  their  amazed  questioning 
Sin  makes  answer,  addressing  Satan  : 2  — 

1  See  in  the  Appendix,  or  "James  i.  12-24. 

2  Paradise  Lost,  ii.  747. 


192  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND   PROSE 

Hast  thou  forgot  me  then,  and  do  I  seem 
Now  in  thine  eye  so  foul?  once  deemed  so  fair 
In  heav'n,  when  at  th'  assembly,  and  in  sight 
Of  all  the  seraphim  with  thee  combined 
In  bold  conspiracy  against  Heav'n's  King, 
All  on  a  sudden  miserable  pain 
Surprised  thee,  dim  thine  eyes,  and  dizzy  swam 
In  darkness,  while  thy  head  flames  thick  and  fast 
Threw  forth;   till  on  the  left  side  opening  wide, 
Likest  to  thee  in  shape  and  countenance  bright, 
Then  shining  heavenly  fair,  a  goddess  armed, 
Out  of  thy  head  I  sprung  :   amazement  seized 
All  th'  host  of  Heav'n ;   back  they  recoiled  afraid 
At  first,  and  called  me  SlN :   and  for  a  sign 
Portentous  held  me;   but  familiar  grown, 
I  pleased,  and  with  attractive  graces  won 
The  most  averse,  thee  chiefly,  who  full  oft 
Thyself  in  me  thy  perfect  image  viewing 
Becamest  enamoured,  and  such  joy  thou  took'st 
With  me  in  secret,  that  my  womb  conceived 
A  growing  burden. 

With  the  thought  of  St.  James  Milton  has  skilfully  com- 
bined the  classic  myth  of  Athene  springing  fully  armed 
out  of  the  brain  of  Jove  —  an  offspring  born  of  a  single 
parent  without  aid  of  mother.  The  speech  of  Sin  con- 
tinues, to  tell  how,  sunk  to  Hell,  she  brought  forth  the 
hideous  monster  Death.  But  Milton  carries  the  thought 
farther :  fresh  incest  between  Death  and  Sin  begets  hell- 
ish monsters  who  prey  upon  their  own  mother.  The 
dread  pedigree  stands  fully  revealed  :  Lust,  Sin,  Death, 
Corruption. 

The  essay  turns  to  the  origin  in  us  of  Good.    The  image 
of  child-bearing  is  again  used,  but  God  is  now  the  parent. 

Of  his  own  will  he  brought  us  forth  by  the  word  of  truth 
that  we  should  be  a  kind  of  firstfruits  of  his  creatures. 


NEW  TESTAMENT   WISDOM  193 

The  germ  so  begotten  in  the  soul  St.  James  calls  "  the 
inborn  word."  He  proceeds  to  the  development  of  this 
germ  of  good  in  man.  Having  called  the  germ  of  good 
an  inborn  wordy  he  naturally  uses  the  image  of  listening : 
we  must  listen  patiently  to  catch  the  faint  voice  within, 
avoiding  all  that  would  drown  the  gentle  sound. 

Let  every  man  be  swift  to  hear,  slow  to  speak,  slow  to  wrath  : 
.  .  .  putting  away  all  filthiness  and  overflowing  of  wickedness, 
receive  with  meekness  the  inborn  word. 

Had  the  essay  stopped  here,  the  impression  would  have 
been  left  that  only  passive  attention  was  necessary.  The 
author  goes  on  to  the  thought  that  what  is  heard  must  be 
translated  into  action  :  we  must  be  doers  of  the  word,  and 
not  hearers  only.     The  image  changes  to  that  of  a  mirror  : 

If  any  one  is  a  hearer  of  the  word,  and  not  a  doer,  he  is  like 
unto  a  man  beholding  his  natural  face  in  a  mirror :  for  he  be- 
holdeth  himself,  and  goeth  away,  and  straightway  forgetteth 
what  manner  of  man  he  was. 

But  what  of  him  who  doeth  as  well  as  heareth  ?  He  will 
behpld  his  action  reflected  in  the  mirror  of  the  law.  But 
St.  James  adds  his  favourite  idea :  it  must  be  "  the  per- 
fect law,  the  law  of  liberty."  The  essay  ends  with  a  con- 
trast between  word  religion,  and  the  religion  of  unspotted 
thought  and  charitable  action. 

In  its  form  then  The  Epistle  of  St.  James  is  a  reversion 
to  the  miscellany  of  wisdom  literature  in  its  earliest  stage. 
In  its  matter  we  see  human  life,  whether  in  its  details  of 
action  or  mysteries  of  faith,  as  life  was  leavened  by  the 
spirit  of  Christianity. 


194  BIBLICAL    POETRY   AND   PROSE 

Wisdom  applied  to  the  Life  of  Christ 
The   Gospel  of  St.  Matthew 

It  would  be  an  imperfect  description  of  St.  Matthew's 
gospel  to  speak  of  it  as  wisdom  literature.  Yet  its  dis- 
tinctiveness from  the  other  gospels  is  brought  out  if  we 
regard  it  as  the  spirit  of  wisdom  applying  itself  to  the 
supreme  topic,  the  life  and  work  of  Jesus  Christ.  To 
realise  this  description  we  must  here,  as  elsewhere,  keep 
distinct  the  two  functions  of  wisdom  :  wise  reflections  on 
various  aspects  of  human  life,  and  again,  the  comprehen- 
sion in  a  single  view  of  the  whole  providential  government 
of  God. 

St.  Matthew's  gospel,  it  is  obvious,  abounds  with  wise 
proverbs  of  humanity  and  life.  There  is  surely  nothing 
derogatory  to  higher  claims  of  Jesus  if  we  say  that  he 
must  be  included  in  the  inner  circle  of  the  world's  liter- 
ary authors  :  what  Homer  is  in  epic  poetry,  what  Shake- 
speare is  among  dramatists,  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  is  as  a 
sayer  of  sayings.  Nor  is  there  any  need  to  inquire  curi- 
ously, as  some  have  done,  how  far  the  familiar  sayings  of 
Jesus  have  been  anticipated  by  his  predecessors.  Origi- 
nality has  no  place  in  wisdom  literature  :  in  regard  to 
Ecclesiasticus  or  Ecclesiastes,  it  is  impossible  to  determine 
which  sayings  of  these  books  were  '  pondered '  by  their 
authors,  and  which  '  sought  out '  and  added  to  their  col- 
lections. Proverbs  are  commonplaces  :  wisdom  appears 
in  the  selection  of  what  sayings  are  to  be  made  prominent 
as  the  true  interpretation  of  life.  It  is  hardly  necessary 
to  use  illustrations  at  this  point.  Let  the  dead  bury  their 
dead  —  They  that  are  whole  need  not  a  physician,  but 


M.W  TESTAMENT   WISDl  M  195 

they  that  are  sick  —  Men  put  not  new  wine  into  old 
wine-skins  —  I  came  not  to  send  peace  but  a  sword  upon 
earth  —  Wisdom  hidden  from  the  wise  and  prudent  and 
revealed  unto  babes  —  The  kingdom  of  heaven  suffereth 
violence  —  He  that  saveth  his  life  shall  lose  it  —  He  that 
hath  to  him  shall  be  given  —  Render  unto  Caesar  the 
things  that  are  Caesar's,  and  unto  God  the  things  that  are 
God's  :  these  paradoxes  are  amongst  the  profoundest  of 
life's  principles.  Yet  these  are  among  the  slighter  say- 
ings of  Jesus.  What  literature  associates  mainly  with  his 
name  are  the  wonderful  parables  :  children  love  them, 
they  are  grasped  at  once  by  the  unlettered  ;  yet  the  deep 
thinker,  the  more  he  thinks,  sees  more  and  more  a  whole 
philosophy  of  life  standing  out  clear  from  a  story  of  half- 
a-dozen  lines. 

Such  sayings  and  parables  are  recorded  in  all  the  gos- 
pels :  more  of  them  by  St.  Matthew  than  by  the  other 
evangelists.  But  of  the  first  gospel  there  is  a  further 
distinctiveness  in  the  way  in  which  such  sayings  are 
brought  together  into  a  system  of  wisdom.  What  tradi- 
tion calls  '  The  Sermon  on  the  Mount '  is  no  sermon,  as 
we  understand  the  term.  The  characteristic  teaching  of 
Jesus  in  the  earlier  part  of  his  career  is  here  massed 
together  and  made  a  symmetrical  whole :  the  teach- 
ing is  the  teaching  of  Jesus,  the  arrangement  —  as  com- 
parison with  other  gospels  shows  —  is  the  arrangement  of 
St.  Matthew.  In  accordance  with  the  usage  of  the  term 
elsewhere  this  Sermon  on  the  Mount  would  be  fitly  enti- 
tled :  '  The  Wisdom  of  Jesus.' 

For  the  form  given  to  Christ's  teaching  in  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount  St.  Matthew  has  gone  to  Old  Testament 
wisdom.     When    properly  printed  its    structure  will    be 


196  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND   PROSE 

seen  to  be  founded  on  the  '  maxim '  :  the  saying  which  is 
made  up  of  a  proverb  text  and  an  expansion  in  prose. 
Six  divisions  of  the  discourse  are  maxims  of  this  kind  ;  it 
is  in  keeping  with  all  wisdom  literature  that  the  seventh 
division  should  be  found  to  be  a  string  of  shorter  sayings 
and  maxims.1  Such  considerations  of  form  have  a  bear- 
ing upon  interpretation.  Thus,  the  opening  of  the  Ser- 
mon on  the  Mount  is  known  as  '  The  Beatitudes,'  and  it 
is  customary  to  reckon  them  as  eight  in  number.  We 
should  rather  say  that  there  is  but  one  beatitude  :  what 
follows  is  its  sevenfold  expansion. 

Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit, 

For  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

Blessed  are  they  that  mourn  :  for  they  shall  be  comforted. 
Blessed  are  the  meek  :  for  they  shall  inherit  the  earth.  Blessed 
are  they  that  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness :  for  they 
shall  be  filled.  Blessed  are  the  merciful :  for  they  shall  obtain 
mercy.  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart :  for  they  shall  see 
God.  Blessed  are  the  peacemakers:  for  they  shall  be  called 
sons  of  God.  Blessed  are  they  that  have  been  persecuted  for 
righteousness'  sake :  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
Blessed  are  ye  when  men  shall  reproach  you,  and  persecute 
you,  and  say  all  manner  of  evil  against  you  falsely,  for  my  sake. 
Rejoice,  and  be  exceeding  glad :  for  great  is  your  reward  in 
heaven :  for  so  persecuted  they  the  prophets  which  were 
before  you. 

The  opening  couplet  gives  the  keynote  of  Christ's  work 
among  men  :  the  centre  of  gravity  of  human  life  has 
been  shifted,  what  before  was  great  has  become  small, 
the  small  has  become  great.  Those  who  read  eight  beati- 
tudes have  some  difficulty  in  deciding  exactly  what  is  the 

1  It  is  so  printed  in  the  St.  Matthew  volume  of  The  Modern  Reader's 
Bible. 


NEW  TESTAMENT   WISDOM  197 

distinctive  meaning  of  the  term  '  poor  in  spirit.'  But  for 
the  meaning  of  this  we  must  look  to  the  seven  sentences 
that  expand  it.  Who  are  are  the  poor  in  spirit?  The 
mourners  :  the  thought  of  the  Preacher1  is  echoed,  that 
it  is  better  to  go  into  the  house  of  mourning  than  into 
the  house  of  feasting,  how  there  is  a  deeper  wisdom  in 
sorrow  than  in  joy.  Who  are  the  poor  in  spirit?  The 
meek :  those  whom  once  Eliphaz  contrasted  with  lords 
of  great  inheritance  :  — 

Thou  hast  not  given  water  to  the  weary  to  drink, 

And  thou  hast  withholden  bread  from  the  hungry; 

But  as  for  the  mighty  man,  he  had  the  land, 

And  the  honourable  man,  he  dwelt  in  it : 

Thou  hast  sent  widows  away  empty, 

And  the  arms  of  the  fatherless  have  been  broken. 

Now  this  is  reversed  ;  it  is  the  meek  who  are  the  magnates 
of  the  new  kingdom.  Who  are  the  poor  in  spirit?  They 
that  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness  :  not  the  Phari- 
sees, whose  broad  phylacteries,  and  alms  done  before 
men,  and  prayers  in  the  corners  of  the  streets,  proclaim 
that  they  have  attained,  but  the  publican  smiting  his 
breast  with  a  sense  of  emptiness  of  all  spiritual  attain- 
ment. Who  are  the  poor  in  spirit?  The  pure  in  heart : 
the  fifteenth  psalm  has  sung  the  purification  of  life  and 
humility  of  heart  which  might  fit  him  who  should  sojourn 
in  God's  tabernacle  ;  more  blessed  now  the  pure  shall 
see  God  himself.  Who  are  the  poor  in  spirit?  The 
merciful  and  not  the  oppressor ;  the  peacemaker,  in  con- 
trast with  the  warrior  who  has  received  the  homage  of 
men  hitherto.  Seventhly  and  lastly,  who  are  the  poor  in 
spirit?     The  curtain  of  the  far  past  and  future  is  lifted, 

1  Ecclesiastes  vii.  2. 


198  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND   PROSE 

and  the  long  array  is  seen  of  those  who  suffer  persecution 
for  righteousness'  sake  :  but  at  this  moment  it  is  a  sight 
for  rejoicing,  for  the  persecutor  seems  less  blessed  than 
his  victim. 

There  follow  two  maxims  on  the  texts,  Ye  are  the  salt 
of  the  earth,  Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world.  Brief  com- 
ments enforce  each.  Salt  is  not  food,  but  that  which  gives 
food  its  savour  :  if  it  ceases  to  produce  effect  on  what  is 
about  it,  it  is  of  all  things  the  most  useless.  So  light  is 
not  light  if  it  is  hidden  :  the  church  that  does  not  make 
goodness  attractive  has  lost  its  right  to  exist.  The  central 
place  of  honour  in  the  whole  discourse  is  given  to  the 
text : — 

Think  not  that  I  came  to  destroy  the  law  or  the  prophets : 
I  came  not  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil. 

The  elaborate  comment  on  this  calls  for  a  righteousness 
to  exceed  the  righteousness  of  scribes  and  Pharisees  : 
it  leads  up  to  the  thought,  Be  ye  perfect.  Other  maxims 
bring  out  the  heavenward  reference  of  our  actions,  more 
than  this,  of  our  very  desires.  The  final  section  strings 
together  many  wise  sayings,  afid  finds  a  conclusion  to  the 
whole  discourse  in  the  parable  of  the  man  that  built  on 
the  rock  and  the  man  that  built  on  the  sand. 

It  is  time  to  turn  to  the  other  conception  of  wisdom, 
the  survey  of  Divine  providence  as  a  whole.  Such  larger 
wisdom  is  many-sided  :  only  a  single  aspect  of  it  has 
application  to  the  present  case,  and  this  is  Divine  wis- 
dom as  reflected  in  history.  From  three  out  of  the  five 
books  of  wisdom  so  far  reviewed  history  has  been  alto- 
gether absent ;  no  place  for  it  was  found  in  Proverbs,  or 
Job,  or  The  Epistle  of  St.  James.     It  appears  in  the  last 


NEW   TESTAMENT   WISDOM  199 

and  longest  section  of  Ecclesiastic  us :  here  history  is 
drawn  within  the  general  wisdom  that  is  a  theme  for 
adoration,  and  the  invocation,  "  Let  us  now  praise 
famous  men,"  ushers  in  a  glorious  succession  of  the 
fathers.  Where  The  Wisdom  of  Solomon  touches  history, 
it  is  to  trace  the  minute  workings  of  providential  govern- 
ment in  the  guidance  of  the  chosen  people  through  the 
wilderness  to  the  land  of  promise.  To  St.  Matthew  wis- 
dom history  takes  another  form  yet :  the  distinguishing 
task  of  this  evangelist  is  to  trace  the  expansion  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  upon  earth. 

The  early  sections  of  the  first  gospel  seem  only  pre- 
liminary. They  are  occupied  with  recognising  in  Jesus 
the  fulfilment  of  prophecy ;  though  even  here  it  is  sug- 
gestive that  St.  Matthew  alone  records  the  Visit  of  the 
Wise  Men  to  the  infant  Christ.  The  true  starting  point 
of  the  history  is  found  at  the  words  :  — 

From  that  time  began  Jesus  to  preach,  and  to  say,  Repent 
ye,  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand. 

It  needs  an  effort  on  our  part  to  realise  the  full  force  of 
this  simple  sentence.  The  history  of  Israel  as  a  spirit- 
ual kingdom,  with  no  ruler  except  the  invisible  God,  had 
broken  down  in  shame  and  captivity.  Redeemed  from 
exile  a  small  remnant  had  indeed  been  able  to  found  a 
spiritual  community ;  but  generations  of  bitter  history 
had  mocked  their  hopes,  and  crushed  them  beneath  a 
foreign  yoke.  Meanwhile,  they  had  seen  their  dreams  of 
a  world  empire  fulfilled  before  their  eyes,  but  not  for 
them  :  it  was  Rome  that  had  the  nations  for  its  inheri- 
tance and  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  for  its  possession. 
Their  one  yearning,  as  they  surveyed  the  providence  of 


200  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND   PROSE 

history,  was  for  the  promised  leader  who  should  restore 
the  kingdom  from  Rome  to  Israel,  and  change  earthly 
domination  to  the  rule  of  heaven  through  its  Messiah. 
At  this  juncture  the  Israelite  pointed  out  by  the  Baptist 
as  his  successor  moves  through  the  land,  crying  that "  The 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  -at  hand." 

Following  this  starting  point  we  find  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount.  This  is  simply  the  charter  of  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  :  the  constitution  and  principles  of  the 
new  society.  All  the  rest  of  the  gospel  is  occupied  with 
the  realisation  in  actual  fact  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
so  long  as  the  life  of  its  founder  on  earth  extends.  It 
is  profound  philosophical  history  :  clear  and  pointed  in 
its  arrangement,  when  once  the  principle  of  this  arrange- 
ment has  been  caught.  The  foundation  thought  of 
St.  Matthew  as  the  historian  of  Christ's  kingdom  on  earth 
may  be  best  given  by  an  image  used  in  the  gospel  itself. 
John  the  Baptist  says  of  his  successor  :  — 

Whose  fan  is  in  his  hand,  and  he  will  throughly  cleanse  his 
threshing  floor;  and  he  will  gather  his  wheat  into  the  garner, 
but  the  chaff  he  will  burn  up  with  unquenchable  fire. 

The  words  must  not  be  limited  to  some  far-off  event 
of  judgment.  From  the  moment  of  Christ's  first  appear- 
ance his  word  is  a  winnowing  fan,  dividing  and  sunder- 
ing among  men  :  more  and  more  the  true  seed  is  drawing 
together,  nucleus  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ;  more  and 
more  what  is  incongruous  and  out  of  harmony  is  being 
repelled,  swelling  into  a  heap  of  mere  chaff  for  the  burn- 
ing. This  one  thought  dominates  St.  Matthew's  whole 
gospel,  and  underlies  its  very  structure. 

Perhaps  the  following  scheme  may  give  assistance  in 


NEW  TESTAMENT   WISDOM  201 

catching  the  historian's  plan,  and  the  way  in  which  his 
narrative  foils  into  natural  divisions  in  relation  to  a  fun- 
damental idea. 

i* 
Birth  of  Jesus. 

2 
Appearance  of  Jesus  in  public. 

3 
Opening  of  the  Ministry :  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount. 

4 
The  Winnowing  Fan  :   Gathering  of   Disciples  and   Hints  of  An- 
tagonism. 

5  6 

[The  Church]  Organisation  \_The   World]    Growing    Isola- 

of  Apostles  and  the  Sevenfold  tion  of  Jesus  from  contemporary 

Commission.  Religion. 

7  8 

[The    Church']  The    Public  [The     World]     The     Greater 

Parable  and  the  Private  Inter-  Miracles   and    the    Growing    An- 

pretation.  tagonism. 

9  io 

[  The  Church]   Full  Recog-  [  The  World]   Entry  into  Jeru- 

nition  of  the  Kingdom  by  the  salem  and  Breach  with  the  Ruling 
Disciples.  Classes. 

II  12 

[  The    Church]  The  Seven-  [  The     World]     The     Passion 

fold  Revelation  of  the  End  to       and  Resurrection  of  Jesus, 
the  Disciples. 

*  For  references,  see  St.  Matthew  in  the  Appendix. 


202  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

The  section  that  follows  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount 
presents  the  kingdom  of  heaven  in  embryo :  we  see  to- 
gether for  a  while  the  elements  which  later  on  drew 
farther  and  farther  apart.  It  gives  the  first  impressions 
made  by  the  preaching  of  Christ :  the  gathering  of  dis- 
ciples around  him,  and  also  the  hints  —  at  this  point  no 
more  than  hints  —  of  antagonism  that  is  to  come.  The 
first  band  of  twelve  disciples  is  founded ;  the  leper  and 
paralytic  are  driven  by  their  sufferings  to  Jesus ;  demons 
bear  testimony  to  him  ;  a  centurion  appears,  firstfruits 
of  followers  outside  the  ranks  of  Israel ;  even  rulers  and 
scribes  press  in,  and  Jesus  must  restrain  the  growing 
excitement.  At  the  same  time  we  hear  doubts  —  but 
unspoken  doubts  —  when  the  sinner  is  pronounced  for- 
given ;  respectful  questionings  follow,  why  Jesus  should 
shock  patriotism  by  companying  with  publicans,  why 
shock  morality  by  eating  with  open  sinners.  The  sec- 
tion reaches  an  appropriate  close  in  a  brief  incident : 
a  wonder  of  healing  has  been  done ;  the  multitude  cry 
that  nothing  like  it  has  been  seen  in  Israel ;  the  Phari- 
sees mutter  in  their  hearts  the  blasphemy  that  later  will 
be  spoken  openly. 

From  this  point  St.  Matthew's  narrative  falls  into  a  suc- 
cession of  diverging  and  contrasting  sections.  The  win- 
nowing fan  is  doing  its  work :  alternately  our  attention 
is  occupied,  now  with  the  followers  of  Jesus  approaching 
more  and  more  nearly  to  an  organised  kingdom  of 
heaven,  now  with  the  world  outside,  repelled  more  and 
more  to  antagonism  that  is  strong  enough  at  last  to 
quench  the  earthly  life  of  the  Master. 

The  fifth  section  in  the  arrangement  I  am  suggesting 
gives  us  the  first  stage  in  the  organisation  of  the  kingdom 


NEW  TESTAMENT   WISDOM  203 

—  the  sending  forth  of  missionaries.  Its  starting  point  is 
the  thought  that  the  harvest  truly  is  great,  but  the  labour- 
ers are  few.  It  is  characteristic  that  where  other  gospels 
show  various  expeditions  and  successive  injunctions,  St. 
Matthew  gathers  the  whole  into  a  single  organisation  of 
apostles  and  a  sevenfold  commission.  The  mission  is 
limited  to  Israel :  the  chosen  people  are  to  have  the  first 
message  of  the  kingdom.  No  force  may  be  used  in  the 
spreading  of  the  gospel :  only  works  of  preaching  and 
healing.  It  is  not  a  hired  ministry :  freely  the  apostles 
have  received  ;  they  must  freely  give.  Yet  they  are  to 
accept  hospitality  :  the  labourer  is  worthy  of  his  hire. 
Attitude  to  the  inevitable  opposition  is  laid  down  :  the 
representatives  of  Jesus  are  to  be  as  sheep  among  wolves. 
Another  article  puts  the  paradox  of  the  kingdom,  that 
Christ  is  come  not  to  send  peace  upon  earth  but  a  sword  : 
the  proclamation  of  the  kingdom  of  peace  will  bring  a 
warfare,  not  between  nation  and  nation,  but  within  each 
household,  with  daughter  in  law  arrayed  against  mother 
in  law  and  mother  in  law  against  daughter  in  law.  Fi- 
nally, the  reward  is  spiritual :  he  that  receives  a  prophet 
in  the  name  of  a  prophet  will  receive  a  prophet's  reward. 
The  section  that  follows  turns  to  the  world  without : 
we  see  the  growing  isolation  of  Jesus  as  his  ministry  pro- 
gresses. At  the  outset  John  the  Baptist  sends  a  message 
of  impatience  :  Art  thou  he  that  should  come,  or  look  we 
for  another?  The  message  is  gently  answered;  then 
Jesus  sorrowfully  recognises,  not  indeed  antagonism,  but 
the  imperfection  of  his  great  predecessor. 

Among  them  that  are  born  of  women  there  hath  not  arisen 
a  greater  than  John  the  Baptist :  yet  he  that  is  but  little  in  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  greater  than  he. 


204  BIBLICAL   TOETRY   AND    PROSE 

Now  we  find  isolation  from  the  wisdom  of  the  world, 
such  wisdom  as  appears  established  in  the  great  cities 
that  are  rejecting  the  light.  Wisdom  is  hidden  from  the 
wise  and  revealed  unto  babes,  and  henceforward  Jesus 
turns  to  the  weary  and  heavy  laden.  Separation  is  next 
seen  from  the  great  national  institution  of  the  sabbath  : 
not,  indeed,  from  the  sabbath  itself,  but  from  the  osten- 
tatious observance  which  was  cherished  as  a  badge  of 
Judaism.  Jesus  will  not  have  his  disciples  hindered  from 
plucking  ears  of  corn  on  their  sabbath  walks,  he  will  not 
cease  his  work  of  healing  :  the  son  of  man  is  lord  of  the 
sabbath.  At  last  the  Master  is  in  open  rupture  with  the 
religious  world.  Pharisees  speak  out  the  blasphemy  they 
had  before  muttered  —  that  Christ  must  be  casting  out 
devils  by  aid  of  the  prince  of  devils.  This  is  to  Jesus  the 
climax  of  evil :  worse  than  opposition  to  himself,  it  is 
antagonism  against  the  spirit  of  healing,  to  which  alone 
he  appeals  for  evidence  of  his  mission.  It  is  a  sin  that 
knows  no  forgiveness  :  these  words  of  Jesus  are  not  a 
threat,  but  a  sorrowful  reflection  :  what  hope  can  there 
be  for  those  who  are  attacking  the  spirit  of  healing  itself? 
The  historical  instinct  of  Matthew  has  concluded  this 
section  with  the  sundering  of  Jesus  from  his  own  kindred, 
who  vainly  interfere.  Henceforward  his  mother  and  his 
brethren  are  they  that  do  the  will  of  his  Father  which  is 
in  heaven. 

The  seventh  section  returns  to  the  children  of  the 
kingdom.  An  era  in  the  teaching  of  Jesus  seems  to  be 
marked  by  the  parable  of  the  Sower,  and  the  six  parables 
that  follow.  But  the  parable  does  not  stand  alone ; 
Matthew  seems  to  be  presenting  at  one  view  the  whole 
institution  of  the  Public  Parable  and  the  Private  Inter- 
pretation. — 


NEW  TESTAMENT    WISDOM  205 

And  the  disciples  came,  and  said  unto  him,  Why  speakest 
thou  unto  them  in  parables?  And  he  answered  and  said  unto 
them :  Unto  you  it  is  given  to  know  the  mysteries  of  the  king- 
dom of  heaven,  but  to  them  it  is  not  given.  For  whosoever 
hath,  to  him  shall  be  given,  and  he  shall  have  abundance :  but 
whosoever  hath  not,  from  him  shall  be  taken  away  even  that 
which  he  hath. 

The  force  of  this  remarkable  passage  is  somewhat  lost  to 
the  English  reader  by  the  change,  in  modern  speech,  in 
the  signification  of  the  word  '  mystery.'  In  Bible  English 
it  must  be  understood  in  such  sense  as  in  the  expression, 
The  Eleusinian  Mysteries  :  secret  societies,  with  a  super- 
ficial truth  presented  to  the  outside  world,  a  hidden 
meaning  for  those  who  are  initiated.  The  '  mystery  of 
godliness '  is  not  its  strangeness,  but  the  great  truth  that 
godliness  is  not  an  open  philosophy,  which  all  can  judge 
of  for  themselves,  but  a  spiritual  experience  which  can 
be  learned  only  by  being  godly.  The  hymn- writer  has 
expressed  the    essence   of  the    thought  in   his  spiritual 

rapture  :  — 

The  love  of  Jesus,  what  it  is, 
None  but  his  loved  ones  know. 

The  parable  is  itself  a  winnowing  fan ;  and  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  has  reached  a  higher  stage  of  organisation  in 
this  distinction  of  the  hearers  who  only  hang  on  the 
word,  and  the  disciples  who  have  pressed  into  the  hidden 
meaning. 

We  pass  from  this  to  hear  of  the  Greater  Miracles  and 
the  Growing  Antagonism.  The  miracles  of  this  section 
are  greater  only  in  the  sense  that  they  are  more  wide- 
reaching.  St.  Matthew  records  here,  not  cases  of  indi- 
vidual healing,  but  the  feeding  of  multitudes  by  miracu- 


206  BIBLICAL   POETRY    AND    PROSE 

lous  means,  the  power  of  Jesus  to  control  the  sea  itself; 
again  —  hardly  less  wonderful  to  its  own  age  —  the  sight 
of  Jesus  at  his  sacred  work  in  the  heathen  regions  of 
Tyre  and  Sidon,  with  a  Canaanitish  woman  receiving 
crumbs  from  Israel's  table.  Side  by  side  with  this  we 
see  the  repelling  influence  of  the  gospel  growing  greater. 
At  the  outset  of  this  section  Christ's  own  city  has  cast  him 
off.  Then  comes  the  deputation  from  Jerusalem  inquir- 
ing why  the  Tradition  of  the  Elders  is  being  transgressed. 
This  Tradition  of  the  Elders  means  the  whole  religious 
orthodoxy  of  the  period.  Reverence  for  the  Law  of 
Moses  had  long  before  passed  into  an  idolatry ;  lest  inad- 
vertence might  transgress,  successive  teachers  had  built 
1  a  hedge  about  the  law  '  —  minute  distinctions  of  lawful 
and  unlawful,  the  frivolity  of  which  had  drawn  away 
attention  from  the  spirit  of  the  Law  itself.  When  Jesus 
appeals  from  letter  to  spirit  his  closest  followers  receive 
a  shock.  But  the  Master  is  resolute  :  every  plant  which 
his  heavenly  Father  has  not  planted  shall  be  rooted  up. 
The  kingdom  of  heaven  has  sundered  itself  from  the 
Tradition  of  the  Elders :  henceforward  it  is  at  war  with 
the  religion  of  the  land. 

But  when,  in  the  ninth  section,  we  are  again  among 
the  followers  of  Jesus,  we  see  the  advancing  kingdom  of 
heaven  attain  its  foundation  faith.  Peter  is  the  spokes- 
man :  Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God. 
This  confession  of  Peter  (Petros)  is  the  rock  (petra)  on 
which  the  church  is  to  stand.     But  at  once  it  is  added  :  — ■ 

From  that  time  began  Jesus  to  shew  unto  his  disciples  how 
that  he  must  go  unto  Jerusalem,  and  suffer  many  things  of  the 
elders  and  chief  priests  and  scribes,  and  be  killed,  and  the  third 
day  be  raised  up. 


NEW  TESTAMENT   WISDOM  207 

When  Peter  protests,  he  is  repelled  as  a  tempter,  and 
the  other  side  of  the  foundation  faith  is  made  clear: 
whoso  would  follow  Christ  must  deny  himself  and  take 
up  his  cross.  Only  when  the  claim  of  the  Messiahship 
is  united  with  the  doctrine  of  the  cross  do  we  reach  the 
Transfiguration,  and  Jesus  is  seen  in  his  glory,  the  Law 
and  Prophets  doing  him  reverence. 

The  rest  of  this  crowning  section  of  St.  Matthew's 
gospel  is  filled  with  questions  of  the  kingdom  thus  fully 
revealed.  Shall  the  kingdom  of  heaven  pay  toll  to  the 
kingdoms  of  the  earth?  But  the  toll  is  quietly  paid, 
and  a  little  child  is  set  in  the  midst:  as  the  child  with 
his  child  world  stands  in  the  midst  of  men  and  women 
and  their  busy  schemes,  so  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
among  the  systems  of  the  world.  The  problem  of  sin 
and  its  forgiveness  is  raised;  the  parable  of  the  Fellow- 
servants  brings  out  how  all  that  men  can  be  asked  to 
forgive  to  one  another  is  but  a  trifle  in  comparison  with 
what  God  has  forgiven  themselves.  Questions  of  mar- 
riage and  divorce  reveal  the  spiritual  nature  of  a  king- 
dom independent  of  social  institutions.  The  young 
lawyer  brings  the  atmosphere  of  mammon :  the  parable 
of  the  Hired  Labourers  presents  the  paradox  of  a  region 
in  which  economic  laws  have  no  place  —  the  last  shall 
be  rewarded  even  as  the  first.  Finally,  the  sons  of  Zebe- 
dee  seek  the  honours  of  the  kingdom:  they  learn  that  in 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  lordship  is  service. 

The  kingdom  of  heaven  has  attained  its  firm  founda- 
tion: it  may  now  encounter  Jerusalem  itself,  seat  of  the 
world  antagonism  with  which  it  is  to  do  battle.  To  St. 
Matthew  there  is  but  one  visit  to  Jerusalem:  a  royal 
entry  amid   thousands  of   the   multitude,    ending   in   a 


208  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

Temple  cleansed  and  made  again  a  house  of  prayer. 
What  follows  is  the  final  breach  between  Jesus  and  the 
ruling  classes  of  his  nation.  The  parable  of  the  Two 
Sons  is  heard:  the  son  who  said,  I  go,  and  went  not; 
the  son  who  in  word  denied  the  summons,  but  whose 
heart  was  open  to  repentance.  The  parable  of  the 
Vineyard  tells  how  the  bidden  guests  held  back,  and 
how  the  marriage  feast  was  for  those  fetched  from  the 
highways  and  the  hedges.  Isaiah's  prophecies  contain 
a  sevenfold  woe :  it  finds  an  echo  in  a  sevenfold  "  Woe 
unto  you,  scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites."  At  last 
is  heard  the  final  lament:  — 

O  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  which  killeth  the  prophets,  and 
stoneth  them  that  are  sent  unto  her  !  how  often  would  I  have 
gathered  thy  children  together,  even  as  a  hen  gathereth  her 
chickens  under  her  wings,  and  ye  would  not !  Behold,  your 
house  is  left  unto  you  desolate. 

The  public  ministry  of  Jesus  is  ended;  the  eleventh 
section  of  the  gospel  contains  the  Master's  last  discourse 
to  his  followers,  in  which  he  is  preparing  them  for  the 
dread  future,  to  be  encountered  after  he  has"  been  taken 
from  them.  Mystic  warnings  stretch  into  a  dim  future; 
but  the  moral  is  clear :  the  duty  of  watchfulness,  with 
its  parable  of  the  Virgins,  the  duty  of  work,  set  forth  by 
the  parable  of  the  Talents.  At  the  close  of  this  vista 
into  the  future,  the  final  parable  of  the  Sheep  and  Goats 
reveals  the  end  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven  upon  earth : 
the  winnowing  fan  will  have  done  its  perfect  work  in  a 
sundering  of  irreconcilable  good  and  evil. 

The  last  division  of  all  the  gospels  must  be  the  same : 
philosophical  history  will  not  differ  from  other  histories 


NEW  TESTAMENT   WISDOM  209 

in  recording  the  passion  and  resurrection  of  Christ. 
Yet  the  closing  words  of  St.  Matthew  are  suggestive  of 
the  whole  bent  of  his  writing.  Like  St.  Mark  and  St. 
Luke  he  brings  Jesus  and  his  disciples  to  the  place  of 
parting.  But  instead  of  telling,  as  do  the  other  gospels, 
of  a  glorious  ascension  into  heaven,  Matthew  is  content 
with  the  final  command  to  make  disciples  of  all  nations, 
and  the  promise,  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto 
the  end  of  the  world."  To  the  last  Matthew  is  the  his- 
torian of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  upon  earth. 

The  Gospel  of  St.  John  as   Wisdom  Literature 

The  study  of  the  fourth  gospel,  to  be  adequate,  needs 
the  assistance  of  works  specially  devoted  to  its  exposi- 
tion. All  that  is  here  attempted  is  to  indicate  in  what 
sense  St.  John's  work  may  be  included  in  the  wisdom 
literature  of  Scripture. 

Every  reader  will  feel  the  distinctiveness  of  the  fourth 
gospel,  not  only  from  other  wisdom  literature,  but  even 
from  the  wisdom  gospel  of  St.  Matthew.  But  there  is 
reason  for  this  difference.  Wisdom  is  the  philosophy 
of  the  Hebrews.  Now  the  Hebrew  people  came  at  last 
into  contact  with  another  people  even  more  philosophi- 
cally inclined  than  themselves.  The  mode  of  thought 
moreover  that  prevailed  among  the  Greeks  was  altogether 
different  from  that  which  characterised  the  wise  among 
the  Hebrews.  The  two  nations  began  to  exercise  mutual 
influence  upon  the  thought  of  each.  The  gospel  of  St. 
John  is  Hebrew  wisdom  largely  leavened  by  Greek 
modes  of  thought. 

The  distinctive  character  of  Hebrew  philosophy  is  its 


210  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

close  relation  with  practical  life:  the  *  wisdom'  that 
pours  itself  out  in  practical  proverbs  and  maxims. 
Greek  philosophy  also  had  its  'seven  wise  men,'  and 
sayings  of  these  are  on  record.  But  early  in  its  career 
Greek  philosophy  turned  from  practical  life  to  specula- 
tion. The  genius  of  Socrates,  it  is  true,  brought  it  back 
from  barren  speculations  in  the  field  of  natural  science 
to  questions  of  life  and  conduct.  But  even  in  the  field 
of  moral  philosophy  the  powerful  influence  of  Socrates 
encouraged  the  Greek  mind  to  speculation.  He  stamped 
upon  philosophy  a  special  mode  of  thought,  called  by 
the  technical  name  'dialectics.'  Though  it  is  an  imper- 
fect explanation,  it  is  sufficient  for  our  present  purpose 
to  say  that  'dialectics'  is  to  dialogue  what  logic  is  to 
monologue.  Modern  philosophy  tends  to  be  the  argu- 
ment of  a  single  thinker,  its  value  depending  upon  the 
value  of  the  conclusion  that  is  reached.  But  where  the 
influence  of  Socrates  prevailed,  Greek  philosophy  came 
to  be  discussion :  often  it  is  the  conversation  of  several 
speakers,  and  where  this  is  not  so,  it  nevertheless  takes 
the  form  of  a  thinker  arguing  with  himself.  It  is  no 
injustice  to  Greek  philosophy  of  this  kind  to  say  that  its 
interest  lay,  not  so  much  in  the  conclusion,  as  in  the 
discussion  itself:  the  play  of  thought,  cross  lights 
reflected  on  to  a  topic  from  several  minds. 

Now  when  the  fourth  gospel  is  compared  with  the 
other  three,  it  is  precisely  this  characteristic  of  dispu- 
tation which  is  found  to  distinguish  the  work  of  Christ, 
as  St.  John  presents  it.  The  life  in  Galilee,  with  its 
simple  preaching  and  works  of  healing,  is  scarcely 
noticed  in  the  fourth  gospel;  what  attracts  the  mind  of 
St.  John  is  the  spectacle  of  Jesus  in  Jerusalem  amid  the 


NEW  TESTAMENT    WISDOM  211 

religious  thinkers  of  his  nation,  who  criticise  every 
work,  and  resist  every  claim:  the  very  term  'the  Jews ' 
is  used  by  St.  John  as  a  name  for  the  opponents  of 
Christ.  Hence  it  is  not  discourse  we  find  here,  but  dis- 
putation. It  is  difficult  to  do  justice  to  this  statement 
without  lengthy  extracts. 

As  he  spake  these  things  many  believed  on  him.  Jesus 
therefore  said  to  those  Jews  which  had  believed  him,  "  If  ye 
abide  in  my  word,  then  are  ye  truly  my  disciples;  and  ye  shall 
know  the  truth,  and  the  truth  shall  make  you  free." 

They  answered  unto  him,  '  We  be  Abraham's  seed,  and  have 
never  yet  been  in  bondage  to  any  man  :  how  sayest  thou,  Ye 
shall  be  made  free  ?  ' 

Jesus  answered  them,  "  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  Every 
one  that  committeth  sin  is  the  bondservant  of  sin.  And  the 
bondservant  abideth  not  in  the  house  for  ever :  the  son  abideth 
for  ever.  If,  therefore,  the  Son  shall  make  you  free,  ye  shall 
be  free  indeed.  I  know  that  ye  are  Abraham's  seed;  yet  ye 
seek  to  kill  me,  because  my  word  hath  not  free  course  in  you. 
I  speak  the  things  which  I  have  seen  with  my  Father :  and  ye 
also  do  the  things  which  ye  heard  from  your  father." 

They  answered  and  said  unto  him,  '  Our  Father  is  Abra- 
ham.' 

Jesus  saith  unto  them,  "  If  ye  were  Abraham's  children,  ye 
would  do  the  works  of  Abraham.  But  now  ye  seek  to  kill  me, 
a  man  that  hath  told  you  the  truth,  which  I  heard  from  God  : 
this  did  not  Abraham.     Ye  do  the  works  of  your  father." 

They  said  unto  him,  '  We  were  not  born  of  fornication;  we 
have  one  Father,  even  God.' 

Jesus  said  unto  them,  "  If  God  were  your  Father,  ye  would 
love  me :  for  I  came  forth  and  am  come  from  God;  for  neither 
have  I  come  of  myself,  but  he  sent  me.  Why  do  ye  not  under- 
stand my  speech?  Even  because  ye  cannot  hear  my  word. 
Ye  are  of  your  father  the  devil,  and  the  lusts  of  your  father  it 
is  your  will  to  do.  He  was  a  murderer  from  the  beginning, 
and  stood  not  in  the  truth,  because  there  is  no  truth  in  him. 


212  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND   PROSE 

When  he  speaketh  a  lie,  he  speaketh  of  his  own  :  for  he  is  a 
liar,  and  the  father  thereof.  But  because  I  say  the  truth,  ye 
believe  me  not.  Which  of  you  convicteth  me  of  sin?  If  I  say 
truth,  why  do  ye  not  believe  me?  He  that  is  of  God  heareth 
the  words  of  God  :  for  this  cause  ye  hear  them  not,  because  ye 
are  not  of  God." 

The  Jews  answered  and  said  unto  him,  '  Say  we  not  well 
that  thou  art  a  Samaritan,  and  hast  a  devil  ? ' 

Jesus  answered,  "  I  have  not  a  devil;  but  I  honour  my 
Father,  and  ye  dishonour  me.  But  I  seek  not  mine  own  glory: 
there  is  one  that  seeketh  and  judgeth.  Verily,  verily,  I  say 
unto  you,  If  a  man  keep  my  word,  he  shall  never  see  death." 

The  Jews  said  unto  him,  '  Now  we  know  that  thou  hast  a 
devil.  Abraham  is  dead,  and  the  prophets;  and  thou  sayest, 
If  a  man  keep  my  word,  he  shall  never  taste  of  death.  Art 
thou  greater  than  our  father  Abraham,  which  is  dead?  and  the 
prophets  are  dead :  whom  makest  thou  thyself  ? ' 

Jesus  answered,  "  If  I  glorify  myself,  my  glory  is  nothing : 
it  is  my  Father  that  gloriheth  me;  of  whom  ye  say,  that  he  is 
your  God;  and  ye  have  not  known  him:  but  I  know  him; 
and  if  I  should  say,  I  know  him  not,  I  shall  be  like  unto  you, 
a  liar :  but  I  know  him,  and  keep  his  word.  Your  father 
Abraham  rejoiced  to  see  my  day;  and  he  saw  it,  and  was  glad." 

The  Jews  therefore  said  unto  him,  '  Thou  art  not  yet  fifty 
years  old,  and  hast  thou  seen  Abraham?  ' 

Jesus  said  unto  them,  "  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  Before 
Abraham  was,  I  am." 

They  took  up  stones  therefore  to  cast  at  him :  but  Jesus  hid 
himself,  and  went  out  of  the  temple. 

Now,  of  course,  disputation  of  this  kind  is  vastly  different 
from  disputation  as  it  appears  in  Plato;  but  so  also  is 
the  life  and  work  of  Jesus  infinitely  different  from  the 
life  and  work  of  Socrates.  And,  in  spite  of  all  differ- 
ences, the  disputations  of  the  fourth  gospel  are  nearer 
to  Plato  than  to  the  gnomic  style  of  Old  Testament 
wisdom. 


NEW  TESTAMENT   WISDOM  213 

This  attraction  in  the  mind  of  St.  John  to  a  dialectic 
style  is  so  strong  that  we  find  it  where  we  should  least 
expect  it.  Even  in  the  incidents  of  the  life  of  Jesus 
what  attracts  St.  John  is  the  conflict  of  thought  called 
forth  at  successive  turns  of  events;  so  that  a  narrative, 
in  the  fourth  gospel,  comes  to  wear  the  air  of  a  discus- 
sion.    I  instance  the  trial  of  Christ  before  Pilate. 

They  lead  Jesus  therefore  from  Caiaphas  into  the  palace  :  and 
it  was  early;  and  they  themselves  entered  not  into  the  palace, 
that  they  might  not  be  defiled,  but  might  eat  the  Passover. 

Pilate  therefore  went  out  unto  them,  and  saith,  '  What  accu- 
sation bring  ye  against  this  man?  ' 

They  answered  and  said  unto  him,  '  If  this  man  were  not  an 
evildoer,  we  should  not  have  delivered  him  up  unto  thee.' 

Pilate  therefore  said  unto  them,  'Take  him  yourselves,  and 
judge  him  according  to  your  law.' 

The  Jews  said  unto  him,  '  It  is  not  lawful  for  us  to  put 
any  man  to  death;  '  that  the  word  of  Jesus  might  be  fulfilled, 
which  he  spake,  signifying  by  what  manner  of  death  he  should 
die. 

Pilate  therefore  entered  again  into  the  palace,  and  called 
Jesus,  and  said  unto  him,  'Art  thou  the  King  of  the  Jews?' 

Jesus  answered,  "  Sayest  thou  this  of  thyself,  or  did  others 
tell   it  thee  concerning  me?" 

Pilate  answered,  'Am  I  a  Jew?  thine  own  nation  and  the 
chief  priests  delivered  thee  unto  me:   what  hast  thou  done?' 

Jesus  answered,  "My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world :  if  my 
kingdom  were  of  this  world,  then  would  my  servants  fight,  that 
I  should  not  be  delivered  to  the  Jews :  but  now  is  my  kingdom 
not  from  hence." 

Pilate  therefore  said  unto  him,  'Art  thou  a  king  then?' 

Jesus  answered,  "  Thou  sayest  that  I  am  a  king.  To  this  end 
have  I  been  born,  and  to  this  end  am  I  come  into  the  world, 
that  I  should  bear  witness  unto  the  truth.  Every  one  that  is 
of  the  truth  heareth  my  voice." 

Pilate  saith  unto  him,  'What  is  truth?' 


214  BIBLICAL    POETRY   AND    PROSE 

And  when  he  had  said  this,  he  went  out  again  unto  the  Jews, 
and  saith  unto  them,  '  I  find  no  crime  in  him.  But  ye  have  a 
custom,  that  I  should  release  unto  you  one  at  the  Passover : 
will  ye  therefore  that  I  release  unto  you  the  King  of  the  Jews? ' 

They  cried  out  therefore  again,  saying,  '  Not  this  man,  but 
Barabbas.'     Now  Barabbas  was  a  robber. 

Then  Pilate  therefore  took  Jesus  and  scourged  him.  And 
the  soldiers  plaited  a  crown  of  thorns,  and  put  it  on  his  head, 
and  arrayed  him  in  a  purple  garment  ;  and  they  came  unto 
him,  and  said,  Hail,  King  of  the  Jews !  and  they  struck  him 
with  their  hands. 

And  Pilate  went  out  again,  and  saith  unto  them,  'Behold,  I 
bring  him  out  to  you,  that  ye  may  know  that  I  find  no  crime  in 
him.'  Jesus  therefore  came  out,  wearing  the  crown  of  thorns 
and  the  purple  garment.  And  Pilate  saith  unto  them, '  Behold, 
the  man ! ' 

When  therefore  the  chief  priests  and  the  officers  saw  him, 
they  cried  out,  saying,  '  Crucify  him,  crucify  him.' 

Pilate  saith  unto  them,  'Take  him  yourselves,  and  crucify 
him :  for  I  find  no  crime  in  him.' 

The  Jews  answered  him,  '  We  have  a  law,  and  by  that  law 
he  ought  to  die,  because  he  made  himself  the  Son  of  God.' 

When  Pilate  therefore  heard  this  saying,  he  was  the  more 
afraid;  and  he  entered  into  the  palace  again,  and  saith  unto 
Jesus,  'Whence  art  thou?' 

But  Jesus  gave  him  no  answer. 

Pilate  therefore  saith  unto  him, '  Speakest  thou  not  unto  me? 
knowest  thou  not  that  I  have  power  to  release  thee,  and  have 
power  to  crucify  thee?  ' 

Jesus  answered  him,  "  Thou  wouldest  have  no  power  against 
me,  except  it  were  given  thee  from  above :  therefore  he  that 
delivered  me  unto  thee  hath  greater  sin." 

Upon  this  Pilate  sought  to  release  him :  but  the  Jews  cried 
out,  saying,  If  thou  release  this  man,  thou  art  not  Gesar's 
friend  :  every  one  that  maketh  himself  a  king  speaketh  against 
Caesar.  When  Pilate  therefore  heard  these  words,  he  brought 
Jesus  out,  and  sat  down  on  the  judgement-seat  at  a  place  called 
'The  Pavement,'  but  in  the  Hebrew  'Gabbatha.'     Now  it  was 


NEW  TESTAMENT   WISDOM  215 

the  Preparation  of  the  Passover  :   it  was  about  the  sixth  hour. 

And  he  saith  unto  the  Jews,  '  Behold  your  King  !  ' 

They  therefore  cried  out,  'Away  with  him,  away  with  him, 

crucify  him.' 

Pilate  saith  unto  them,  •  Shall  I  crucify  your  King?' 

The  chief  priests  answered,  '  We  have  no  King  but  Czesar.' 

Then  therefore  he  delivered  him  unto  them  to  be  crucified. 

It  is  time  to  turn  from  the  general  style  of  this  fourth 
gospel  to  the  conception  of  the  work  as  a  whole.  Here 
again  we  find  a  counterpart  to  wisdom  literature,  to  that 
side  of  it  which  contemplates  God's  universe  as  a  whole, 
or  meditates  upon  foundation  principles  which  underlie 
it.  St.  John's  is  a  philosophical  gospel:  a  prologue 
lays  down  a  proposition  of  philosophy  —  in  this  case 
of  theology  —  and  what  follows  is  the  proof  of  the 
proposition. 

The  famous  prologue  to  the  fourth  gospel  is  either  a 
complex  and  difficult  piece  of  writing,  or  a  theory  com- 
paratively simple  and  straightforward,  according  to  the 
point  of  view  from  which  it  is  approached.  All  rests 
upon  a  certain  expression,  Logos  in  the  original  Greek, 
Word  in  the  English  version.  The  English  term  is  a 
fair  equivalent  for  the  Greek,  with  this  difference :  that 
Logos  in  Greek,  besides  its  ordinary  usage,  is  also  a 
technical  term  of  certain  oriental  philosophies,  involving 
subtle  and  intricate  conceptions.  Undoubtedly  the 
author  of  the  fourth  gospel  had  in  mind  these  oriental 
systems  of  thought,  and  the  relations  between  their  con- 
ceptions and  the  theology  he  himself  believed.  Those 
therefore  who  are  concerned  with  the  place  of  St.  John's 
writing  in  the  general  history  of  philosophic  thought  are 
burdened  with  a  difficult  task,  that  of  catching  and  for- 


216  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

mulating  the  relations  between  Christian  and  oriental 
philosophy.  But  where  the  question  is  only  of  the 
fourth  gospel  as  a  work  of  Christian  literature,  the  pro- 
logue is  comparatively  simple.  Both  the  original 
expression  and  the  English  translation  'Word'  indicate 
what  we  in  modern  times  should  convey  by  using  the 
term  'Revelation.'  The  argument  is  as  to  the  relation- 
ship between  'Revelation  '  and  Jesus  Christ. 

For  the  form  of  this  prologue  St.  John  has  gone  to 
wisdom  literature;  he  has  used  that  particular  form  we 
have  so  often  had  to  notice  as  the  'maxim.'  The  maxim 
is  a  text  in  proverb  form,  with  a  brief  prose  comment. 
The  prologue  is  made  up  of  three  such  maxims :  two  of 
them  are  texts  with  comments,  the  third  is  the  text  on 
which  the  whole  gospel  is  to  serve  as  comment.  The 
best  way  of  grasping  the  argument  of  the  prologue  is  to 
isolate  the  three  texts,  and  view  them  as  three  steps  in 
a  progression  of  thought. 

i 

In  the  beginning  was  the  Word : 
And  the  Word  was  with  God: 
And  the  Word  was  God. 

2 

And  the  Word  became  Flesh, 
And  dwelt  among  us, 
Full  of  grace  and  truth. 

3 
No  man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time  : 
The  only  begotten  Son  which  is  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father, 
He  hath  declared  Him. 

The  first  proposition  fastens  attention  upon  the  concep- 
tion of  a  Revelation  of  God  which  is  as  Divine  as  the 


m:\v  testament  wisdom  217 

God  who  is  revealed.  The  second  tells  how  in  due 
course  this  Revelation  took  the  form  of  human  flesh. 
The  two  ideas  of  Divine  Revelation  and  human  flesh 
having  thus  been  brought  forward,  the  third  proposition 
unites  them  in  a  third  conception,  Son :  the  incarnated 
Revelation  of  God  is  the  Son  revealing  the  Father.  The 
full  truth  of  the  prologue  is  Jesus,  Son  of  God,  Revealer 
of  the  Father. 

Comments  expand  and  support  the  ideas  of  the  first 
two  propositions.  The  Revelation  of  God  which  was 
itself  Divine  was  manifested  in  all  creation,  all  life,  in 
the  spiritual  light  which  no  darkness  could  overcome. 
John  was  no  more  than  a  witness  to  the  light  that  was 
coming.  Though  created  beings  might  reject  that 
which  had  created  them,  yet  those  who  accepted  could 
become  themselves  sons  of  God,  begotten  by  that  which 
was  God.1  To  the  idea  of  the  Word  becoming  Flesh 
a  comment,  interjected  (as  elsewhere  in  wisdom  writ- 
ing2) into  the  middle  of  the  text,  makes  the  author  one 
of  many  who  could  bear  witness :  "  We  beheld  his  glory." 
John's  testimony  is  added.  And  further,  previous  reve- 
lation was  the  partial  revelation  of  Haw';  with  Jesus 
came  the  full  glory  of  revelation  in  'grace  and  truth.'3 

On  the  third  text,  as  I  have  already  said,  the  whole 
gospel  is  the  comment.  Other  gospels  are  made  up  of 
the  Acts  and  Words  of  Jesus.  In  that  of  St.  John  the 
'Acts  '  become  'Signs.'  The  ordinary  words  that  express 
the  miraculous  works  of  Christ  are  almost  wanting  in 

1  Chapter  i.  2-13. 

2  See  in  Matthew  volume  of  Modern  Reader  s  Bible,  page  214.  Simi- 
lar forms  are  in  Ecclesiastes  volume,  pages  25,  37. 

a  i.  14-17. 


218  BIBLICAL    POETRY   AND    PROSE 

the  fourth  gospel;  the  incidents  are  signs,  selected  and 
treated  with  a  view  to  bring  out  the  bearing  of  each  on 
the  Divine  character  of  the  Worker.  Similarly,  the 
words  of  Jesus  which  St.  John  relates  are  those  which 
most  clearly  witness  to  his  claims  of  Divinity.  The 
thought  of  the  prologue  having  been  kept  clear  through 
every  section  of  the  narrative  is  once  more  formulated 
in  its  closing  words :  — 

Many  other  signs  therefore  did  Jesus  in  the  presence  of  the 
disciples,  which  are  not  written  in  this  book  :  but  these  are 
written,  that  ye  may  believe  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of 
God :  and  that  believing  ye  may  have  life  in  his  name. 


CHAPTER    VII 

LYRIC   POETRY   OF  THE   BIBLE 

Of  creative  literature  the  three  natural  divisions  are 
Epic,  Lyric,  Drama.  Epic  poetry,  illustrated  by  such 
works  as  The  Iliad  or  Paradise  Lost,  is  the  poetry  which 
relates  or  describes;  it  is  the  author  who  speaks  through- 
out. In  Drama,  on  the  contrary,  the  author  nowhere 
appears;  it  is  the  actual  personages  of  the  story  who 
speak,  and  by  their  words  and  acts  the  incidents  are 
presented.  Between  these  two  forms  stands  Lyric  poetry 
as  poetic  meditation:  the  poet  now  speaks  for  himself, 
now  identifies  himself  with  other  personages,  or  for  a 
time  is  relating  and  describing.  Lyric  poetry  is  made 
up  of  songs,  odes,  sonnets,  elegies,  meditations,  mono- 
logues; as  the  name  implies,  it  lends  itself  readily  to 
musical  accompaniment,  and  even  without  this  is  in 
spirit  closely  akin  to  music. 

Three  main  sources  may  be  recognised  for  the  lyric 
poetry  of  Scripture.  The  first  of  these  is  the  dance. 
Before  literature  commits  itself  to  writing  there  is  a  long 
and  important  period  of  spoken  poetry,  and  in  this 
spoken  stage  it  is  natural  for  poetry  to  associate  itself 
alike  with  musical  accompaniment  and  with  bodily 
movement  and  gesticulation.  Indeed,  these  external 
motions  of  the  body  may  be  looked  upon  as  a  sort  of 
scaffolding,  with  the  aid  of  which  is  being  gradually 
built  up  a  mental  sense  of  rhythm;   in  process  of  time 

219 


220  BIBLICAL    POETRY    AND    PROSE 

I  the  dance  movements,  and  even  the  musical  accompani- 
I  ment,  drop  away,  and  metrical  rhythm  is  strong  enough 
Mo  stand  by  itself.  But  in  the  case  of  biblical  literature, 
just  where,  by  natural  evolution,  dance  movement  was 
falling  into  decay,  another  influence  was  encountered  of 
an  opposite  tendency :  an  elaborate  Temple  service  was 
instituted,  and  the  processionary  character  of  sacred 
ritual  restored  to  later  lyrics  much  of  what  the  dance 
had  contributed  to  poetry  in  its  earliest  stage.  It  is 
thus  convenient  to  indicate  three  landmarks  in  the 
development  of  biblical  lyrics.  One  is  the  Proces- 
sionary Ode.  The  second  is  the  Anthem,  in  which, 
without  the  full  procession,  there  is  some  suggestion  of 
elaborate  performance,  such  (for  example)  as  provision 
for  two  or  more  performers.  There  is,  thirdly,  the  Song 
V  or  Meditation,  which  is  nothing  more  than  the  musical 
outpouring  of  a  single  performer. 

Of  the  full  processional  ode  the  Bible  contains  two 
magnificent  examples.  One  is  the  triumphal  song  put 
into  the  mouth  of  Israel  in  the  moment  of  its  deliverance 
at  the  Red  Sea;  here  the  text  distinctly  states  how 
Miriam  "took  a  timbrel  in  her  hand,  and  all  the  women 
went  out  after  her  with  timbrels  and  with  dances."1 
The  structure  of  this  Song  of  Moses  and  Miriam  is  very 
simple :  the  Men,  in  successive  stanzas,  celebrate  the 
fact  of  the  deliverance  itself,  the  mystic  manner  in  which 
it  has  been  brought  about,  the  panic  falling  upon  all  the 
foes  who  guard  the  approach  to  Canaan;  between  the 
stanzas  the  Women  dance  and  sing  the  refrain:  — 

Sing  ye  to  the  Lord,  for  he  hath  triumphed  gloriously; 
The  horse  and  his  rider  hath  he  thrown  into  the  sea. 

1  Exodus  xv.  20. 


LYRIC    POETRY   OF  THE    I'.l  BLE  221 

The  other  is  the  similar  Song  of  Deborah  in  triumph 
over  the  fall  of  Sisera.  We  have  already  seen  !  how  the 
performance  of  this  is  in  the  hands  of  a  Chorus  of  Men, 
led  by  Barak,  and  a  Chorus  of  Women,  led  by  Deborah; 
how,  in  tumultuous  ecstasy,  the  two  choruses  rouse  one 
another  to  their  task,  interrupt  one  another  with  snatches 
of  song,  play  into  one  another's  hands  in  depicting  dif- 
ferent phases  of  the  incident,  unite  finally  in  a  climax 
of  triumph.  The  two  odes  are  supreme  examples  of 
early  lyric  poetry.  And  they  can  be  fully  appreciated 
only  by  reading  them  with  the  same  antiphonal  rendering 
with  which  they  were  originally  performed. 

As  an  interesting  link  connecting  the  processional  ode 
with  the  anthems  of  Temple  service  we  may  study  the 
Anthems  for  the  Inauguration  of  Jerusalem.2  It  will  be 
remembered  that  Jerusalem  was  originally  a  Jebusite 
city,  deemed  an  impregnable  fortress;  its  capture  was 
the  greatest  achievement  of  David  as  a  military  man. 
He  resolved  to  transform  the  heathen  fortress  into  a 
metropolis  for  the  sacred  monarchy  of  Israel;  byway  of 
ceremonious  inauguration  he  would  convey  to  Jerusalem 
the  ark,  as  symbol  of  Divine  presence.  But  this  enter- 
prise at  its  outset  received  a  tragic  check.  The  ark  had 
been  discovered  in  the  woodlands  of  Ephraim;  drawn 
in  a  cart,  it  was  being  escorted  with  military  pomp, 
when  one  of  the  attendants  touched  the  ark  as  the  oxen 
stumbled,  and  he  fell  dead.  Pomp  was  converted  into 
panic:  the  ark  was  hastily  conveyed  into  the  house  of 
Obed-Edom    by    the    roadside,    and    for   three    months 

1  Above,  page  3. 

'2  For  the  general  narrative  of  this  incident,  compare  //  Samuel  vi 
with  /  Chronicles  xiii  and  xv-xvi. 


222  BIBLICAL   POETRY    AND    PROSE 

David  laboured  under  a  sense  of  the  Divine  displeasure. 
The  death  of  Uzzah  was  interpreted  as  a  judgment  upon 
the  neglect  of  the  ceremonies  ordained  for  the  escort  of 
the  ark  in  the  wilderness  journeys.  Accordingly,  David 
reorganised  a  priestly  and  levitical  service,  and  a  second 
time  set  out  to  bring  the  ark  to  Jerusalem,  with  a  pro- 
cession in  which  priestly  ritual  and  military  pomp  were 
to  intermingle.  In  connection  with  this  day  of  inaugura- 
tion five  anthems  may  be  traced. 

David  entered  upon  the  ceremonies  of  the  day  with 
trepidation  of  spirit.  Hence,  as  soon  as  the  Levites  with 
the  ark  had  moved  forward  six  paces  —  enough  to  show 
that  the  Divine  ban  had  been  removed  —  the  procession 
halted  for  a  sacrifice  of  thanksgiving.  At  this  point  the 
anthem  seems  to  have  been  the  thirtieth  psalm.  It 
breathes  a  sense  of  sudden  deliverance,  the  lifting  of  a 
weight  of  oppression. 

For  his  anger  is  but  for  a  moment; 

His  favour  is  for  a  life  time  : 
Weeping  may  tarry  for  the  night, 

But  joy  cometh  in  the  morning. 

In  no  obscure  terms  comes  the  suggestion  of  the  shock 
which,  three  months  before,  had  clouded  the  hour  of 
military  triumph  with  sudden  withdrawal  of  the  Divine 
favour : — 

As  for  me,  I  said  in  my  prosperity, 
I  shall  never  be  moved, 

Thou,  Lord,  of  thy  favour  hadst  made  my  mountain  to 
stand  strong : 

Thou  didst  hide  thy  face;    I  was  troubled, 

I  cried  to  thee,  O  Lord; 

And  unto  the  Lord  I  made  supplication. 


LYRIC   POETRY   OF  THE    BIBLE  22."? 

There  is  a  return  to  the  sense  of  deliverance :  — 

Thou  hast  turned  for  me  my  mourning  into  dancing; 

Thou  hast  loosed  my  sackcloth,  and  girded  me  with  gladness. 

At  the  foot  of  the  hill  on  which  Jerusalem  stands  the 
procession  again  halted  to  take  breath.  Here  the 
anthem  was  the  first  half  of  the  twenty-fourth  psalm. 
The  choir  divides:  one  choir  raises  a  note  of  praise  to 
God,  and  adds  the  question  :  — 

Who  shall  ascend  into  the  hill  of  the  Lord  ? 
And  who  shall  stand  in  his  holy  place  ? 

Pausing  at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  which  this  day's  ceremony 
is  to  make  the  hill  of  Jehovah,  it  is  natural  to  ask  rever- 
ently, Who  is  fitted  to  take  part  in  so  solemn  an  act? 
The  answer  from  the  second  choir  is  a  description  of 
spiritual  preparedness  of  heart,  and  an  assumption  of  it 
for  themselves. 

He  that  hath  clean  hands,  and  a  pure  heart; 

Who  hath  not  lifted  up  his  soul  unto  vanity, 

And  hath  not  sworn  deceitfully. 
He  shall  receive  a  blessing  from  the  Lord, 

And  righteousness  from  the  God  of  his  salvation. 
This  is  the  generation  of  them  that  seek  after  him, 

That  seek  thy  face,  O  God  of  Jacob. 

The  procession  resumed;  and  the  climax  of  the  day's 
ceremony  was  reached  in  front  of  the  closed  gates  of  the 
ancient  fortress.  One  of  the  two  choirs  had  passed 
within,  to  appear  as  wardens  of  Jerusalem.  The  other 
choir,  with  king  and  army,  approach  and  call  upon  the 
city  to  receive  its  conqueror. 

First  Choir.     Lift  up  your  heads,  O  ye  gates; 

And  be  ye  lift  up,  ye  ancient  doors : 
And  the  King  of  Glory  shall  come  in. 


224  BIBLICAL    POETRY   AND   PROSE 

Choir  of  Wardens.     Who  is  the  King  of  Glory  ? 

First  Choir.     The  Lord  strong  and  mighty, 
The  Lord  mighty  in  battle. 

But  the  gates  refuse  to  open;  for  in  the  response  of  the 
advancing  procession  the  supreme  name  of  Israel's  God 
—  the  military  name,  The  Lord  of  Hosts,  which  serves 
as  watchword  for  this  military  ceremony  —  has  been  pur- 
posely avoided,  in  order  to  make  it  the  more  emphatic 
when  it  does  come.     The  summons  has  to  be  repeated. 

First  Choir.      Lift  up  your  heads,  O  ye  gates; 

Yea,  lift  them  up,  ye  ancient  doors; 
And  the  King  of  Glory  shall  come  in. 

Choir  of  Wardens. __    Who  is  this  King  of  Glory  ? 

At  last  the  watchword  of  the  day  is  thundered  forth  by 
choir  and  army  :  — 

The  Lord  of  Hosts, 
He  is  the  King  of  Glory  ! 

The  ancient  gates  roll  back,  the  ark  enters,  and  Jehovah 
has  taken  possession  of  his  city. 

But  the  proceedings  of  the  day  were  not  yet  at  an  end. 
A  temporary  tabernacle  had  been  prepared  for  the  ark, 
until  the  enduring  Temple  could  be  built.  As  the  pro- 
cession deposits  its  sacred  burden  another  sacrifice  is 
offered,  and  with  it,  as  anthem,  comes  a  portion  of  the 
hundred  and  thirty-second  psalm.1  It  pictures  all  the 
affliction  of  David  during  his  three  months  of  anxiety :  — 

1  The  latter  part  of  the  psalm  (from  verse  10)  is  an  addition  for  the 
occasion  when  the  ark  was  transferred  from  the  tabernacle  of  David  to 
the  Temple  of  Solomon. 


LYRIC   TOETRY   OF  THE   BIBLE  225 

Surely  I  will  not  come  into  the  tabernacle  of  my  house,  nor  go 

up  into  my  bed; 
I  will  not  give  sleep  to  mine  eyes,  or  slumber  to  mine  eyelids; 
Until  I  find  out  a  place  for  the  Lord, 
A  tabernacle  for  the  Mighty  One  of  Jacob. 

Allusion  is  made  to  the  search  for  the  ark,  its  discovery 
in  "the  field  of  the  wood"  —  a  translation  of  the  name 
of  the  place  from  which  the  original  procession  started. 
Finally,  there  is  an  echo  of  the  formula  used  at  the 
stopping  of  the  ark  in  its  wilderness  journeys:  — 

Arise,  O  Lord,  into  thy  resting  place; 
Thou,  and  the  ark  of  thy  strength. 

The  main  ceremony  of  the  day  was  thus  concluded,  and 
the  people  as  a  whole  were  dismissed  with  the  royal 
blessing.  But  the  king  and  his  immediate  followers 
proceeded  to  a  lesser  ceremony  of  inaugurating  the  royal 
palace.  This  gives  the  final  anthem  of  the  day,  the 
hundred  and  first  psalm.  It  is  a  song  of  mercy  and 
judgment;  vows  of  purity  made  by  the  king  for  himself, 
for  his  immediate  circle,  and  for  the  administration  of 
justice.  The  matter  is  suitable  for  every  righteous 
ruler;  but  there  is  a  special  appropriateness  in  the  final 
lines:  — 

Morning  by  morning  will  I  destroy  all  the  wicked  of  the  land; 

To  cut  off  all  the  workers  of  iniquity  from  the  city  of  the  Lord. 

The  expression,  "The  city  of  the  Lord,"  occurs  nowhere 
else  in  Scripture  but  in  connection  with  this,  the  day  of 
the  city's  inauguration. 

The  anthems  of  Temple  service  include  all  the  more 
elaborate  ascriptions  of  praise  to  God  of  which  the 
psalter  is  full.  They  breathe  the  joyous  spirit  of  a 
sacred    feast    day,    or   express   vows   of    thanksgiving. 


226 


BIBLICAL   POETRY    AND    PROSE 


They  especially  abound  towards  the  end  of  The  Book  of 
Psalms,  where,  to  a  general  refrain  of  'Hallelujah,' 
psalm  after  psalm  calls  upon  the  heights  and  the  depths, 
all  orders  of  nature  and  all  classes  of  men,  with  all 
instruments  of  music  and  everything  that  hath  breath,  to 
join  in  praising  Jehovah.  Perhaps  the  point  where  the 
ritual  anthem  most  nearly  resembles  the  original  pro- 
cessionary  ode  is  found  in  the  hundred  and  eighteenth 
psalm.  The  occasion  is  clearly  a  vow  of  thanksgiving 
after  recovery  from  sickness;  the  performance  involves 
the  Worshipper  himself,  a  Chorus  of  People  escorting 
him,  and  later  on  a  Chorus  of  Priests.  The  Worshipper 
(or  his  musical  representative)  approaches  the  Temple; 
he  and  his  escort  sing  alternately  or  together. 

Worshipper     O  give  thanks  unto  the  Lord,  for  he  is  good : 
and  Chorus.  For  his  mercy  endureth  for  ever. 

Let  Israel  now  say, 

That  his  mercy  endureth  for  ever. 
Let  the  house  of  Aaron  now  say, 

That  his  mercy  endureth  for  ever. 

Let  them  now  that  fear  the  Lord  say, 

That  his  mercy  endureth  for  ever. 

Worshipper.     Out  of  my  distress  I  called  upon  the  Lord  : 

The  Lord  answered  me,  and  set   me  in  a  large 
place. 
The  Lord  is  on  my  side;    I  will  not  fear: 

What  can  man  do  unto  me? 
The  Lord  is  on  my  side  among  them  that  help  me  : 
Therefore  shall  I  see  my  desire  upon  them  that 
hate  me. 

Chorus.     It  is  better  to  trust  in  the  Lord 
Than  to  put  confidence  in  man. 
It  is  better  to  trust  in  the  Lord 
Than  to  put  confidence  in  princes. 


LYRIC   POETRY   OF  THE   BIBLE 


227 


kipper.     All  nations  compassed  me  about  — 


Chorus. 
Worshipper. 

Chorus. 
Worshipper. 

Chorus. 
Worshipper. 


In  the  name  of  the  LORD  I  will  cut  them  off. 

They  compassed  me  about; 

Yea,  they  compassed  me  about  — 

In  the  name  of  the  Lord  I  will  cut  them  off. 

They  compassed  me  about  like  bees; 
They  are  quenched  as  the  fire  of  thorns  — 

In  the  name  of  the  Lord  I  will  cut  them  off. 


Thou  didst  thrust  sore  at  me  that  I  might  fall : 

But  the  Lord  helped  me  : 
The  Lord  is  my  strength  and  song; 

And  he  is  become  my  salvation. 
The  voice  of  rejoicing  and  salvation  is  in  the  tents 
of  the  righteous, 

The  right  hand  of  the  Lord  doeth  valiantly. 

Chorus.     The  right  hand  of  the  Lord  is  exalted, 

The  right  hand  of  the  Lord  doeth  valiantly. 

Worshipper.     I  shall  not  die,  but  live, 

And  declare  the  works  of  the  Lord. 
The  Lord  hath  chastened  me  sore  : 

But  he  hath  not  given  me  over  unto  death. 
Open  to  me  the  gates  of  righteousness  : 

I  will  enter  into  them,  I  will  give  thanks  unto 
the  Lord. 

At  this  moment  the  Temple  gates  open  and  disclose  a 
Chorus  of  Priests  awaiting  the  procession. 

Priests.     This  is  the  gate  of  the  Lord; 

The  righteous  shall  enter  into  it. 

Worshipper.      I  will  give  thanks  unto  thee,  for  thou  hast  answered 
me, 
And  art  become  my  salvation. 
The  stone  which  the  builders  rejected 
Is  become  the  head  of  the  corner. 


228  BIBLICAL    POETRY    AND    PROSE 

Chorus.      This  is  the  LORD'S  doing; 

It  is  marvellous  in  our  eyes. 
This  is  the  day  which  the  Lord  hath  made; 

We  will  rejoice  and  be  glad  in  it. 
Save  now,  we  beseech  thee,  O  Lord, 

O  Lord,  we  beseech  thee,  send  now  prosperity. 

Here   all   enter  the   Temple,    the    Priests   giving  their 
benediction. 

Priests.      Blessed  be  he  that  entereth   in  the  name  of  the 
Lord. 
We  have  blessed  you  out  of  the  house  of  the  Lord. 

Chorus.     The  Lord  is  God,  and  he  hath  given  us  light : 

Bind  the  sacrifice  with  cords,  even  unto  the  horns 
of  the  altar. 

Worshipper.     Thou  art  my  God,  and  I  will  give  thanks  unto  thee  : 
Thou  art  my  God,  I  will  exalt  thee. 

Chorus.     O  give  thanks  unto  the  Lord;    for  he  is  good: 
For  his  mercy  endureth  for  ever. 

Before  passing  away  from  the  anthem  it  is  well  to 
note  a  group  of  psalms  in  which  the  animating  spirit  is 
not  sacred  ritual,  but  patriotic  celebration:  they  are 
national  anthems.  They  are  however  very  different  from 
what  that  term  suggests  in  modern  literature.  Most 
peoples  are  constituted  nations  by  circumstances  of  race 
or  geography;  Israel  becomes  the  chosen  nation  by  a 
providential  call,  and  its  national  anthems  take  the  form 
of  historical  retrospects.  The  earliest  is  the  National 
Anthem  of  the  Wilderness,  the  hundred  and  thirty-sixth 
psalm.  It  has  the  structure  of  primitive  poetry:  the 
latter  half  of  each  verse  is  the  refrain,  "  For  his  mercy 
endureth  for  ever."    The  history  surveyed  is  the  smiting 


I.YRIC    I'OKTRY    <)!•     NIK    BIB!  I  229 

of  Egypt,  and  the  deliverance  of  Israel  with  a  strong 
hand  and  a  stretched  out  arm;  the  dividing  of  the  Red 
Sea,  and  the  leading  through  the  wilderness;  the  furthest 
point  reached  is  the  smiting  of  great  kings,  Sihon  of  the 
Amorites  and  Og  of  Bashan,  and  the  inheriting  of  their 
land  by  Israel.  The  hundred  and  fifth  psalm  is  the 
National  Hymn  of  the  Promised  Land.  Its  unbroken 
couplets  ring  like  the  march  of  a  conquering  people. 
The  main  theme  is  the  covenant  made  with  the  fathers, 
and  now  fulfilled  :  — 

Saying,  Unto  thee  will  I  give  the  land  of  Canaan, 

The  lot  of  your  inheritance  : 
When  they  were  but  a  few  men  in  number; 

Yea,  very  few,  and  sojourners  in  it; 
And  they  went  about  from  nation  to  nation, 

From  one  kingdom  to  another  people. 
He  suffered  no  man  to  do  them  wrong; 

Yea,  he  reproved  kings  for  their  sakes; 
"  Touch  not  mine  anointed  ones, 

And  do  my  prophets  no  harm." 

The  wonders  of  Egypt  and  the  mercies  of  the  wilderness 
are  passed  in  review,  and  the  joyous  conclusion  is 
reached :  — 

And  he  brought  forth  his  people  with  joy, 

And  his  chosen  with  singing. 
And  he  gave  them  the  lands  of  the  nations; 

And  they  took  the  labour  of  the  peoples  in  possession. 

Very  different  is  the  seventy-eighth  psalm:  this  powerful 
lyric  is  the  National  Hymn  of  the  Kingdom  of  Judah. 
The  defection  of  northern  Israel  (or  Ephraim)  is  put 
under  the  metaphor  of  armed  warriors  deserting  on  the 
very  field  of  battle  :  — 


230  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

The  children  of  Ephraim,  being  armed  and  carrying  bows, 
Turned  back  in  the  day  of  battle. 
They  kept  not  the  covenant  of  God, 
And  refused  to  walk  in  his  law. 

From  this  point  the  long  poem  follows  the  peculiar 
pendulum  movement  so  characteristic  of  Hebrew  poetry : 
the  swinging  backwards  and  forwards  between  two 
themes,  in  this  case  between  the  wonders  of  Divine 
energy  on  behalf  of  Israel,  and  the  dead  weight  of 
human  frailty  which  has  persisted  in  frustrating  the 
designs  of  God.  When  this  unfaithfulness  of  Israel 
even  in  the  promised  land  itself  has  been  described, 
there  is  a  final  outburst  of  Divine  energy  in  a  new  call, 
by  which  Israel  is  rejected,  and  Judah  becomes  the 
chosen  of  God. 

Then  the  Lord  awaked  as  one  out  of  sleep, 

Like  a  mighty  man  that  shouteth  by  reason  of  wine. 

And  he  smote  his  adversaries  backward  : 

He  put  them  to  a  perpetual  reproach. 

Moreover  he  refused  the  tent  of  Joseph, 

And  chose  not  the  tribe  of  Ephraim; 

But  chose  the  tribe  of  Judah, 

The  mount  Zion  which  he  loved. 

The  hundred  and  sixth  psalm  gives  us  the  same  general 
matter,  and  the  same  pendulum  movement :  but  the  his- 
tory is  carried  a  stage  further  —  it  is  the  National  Anthem 
of  the  Captivity. 

Therefore  was  the  wrath  of  the  Lord  kindled  against  his  people, 

And  he  abhorred  his  inheritance. 

And  he  gave  them  into  the  hand  of  the  nations; 

And  they  that  hated  them  ruled  over  them.   .  .  . 


LYRIC   POETRY   OF  THE   BIBLE  231 

Save  us,  O  Lord  our  God, 

And  gather  us  from  among  the  nations, 

To  give  thanks  unto  thy  holy  name, 
And  to  triumph  in  thy  praise. 

These  make  the  four  national  anthems  of  Israel.  But 
it  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  poem  which  in  the 
psalter  immediately  follows  the  last  of  these  is  the  Song 
of  the  Lord's  Redeemed  :  — 

Whom  he  hath  redeemed  from  the  hand  of  the  adversary, 

And  gathered  them  out  of  the  lands, 

From  the  east  and  from  the  west,  from  the  north  and  from  the  south. 

In  passages  already  quoted  in  full,1  as  examples  of 
rhythmic  beauty,  we  have  the  captivity  of  Israel  sug- 
gested under  four  images:  of  wanderers  in  the  desert 
hungry  and  fainting,  of  men  bound  in  iron  and  dark- 
ness, of  fools  brought  by  affliction  to  the  gates  of  death, 
of  men  going  down  to  the  sea  in  ships  and  staggering 
amid  the  storm  —  all  cry  to  Jehovah,  and  are  heard 
praising  him  for  sudden  relief.  With  a  change  of 
rhythmic  effect,  the  stanzas  swell  out  and  die  down  to 
picture  the  providence  that  exalts  the  righteous  and 
depresses  the  sinner.    The  end  of  it  all  is  'wisdom  ' :  — 

Whoso  is  wise  shall  give  heed  to  these  things, 
And  they  shall  consider  the  mercies  of  the  Lord. 

The  songs  and  meditations  of  the  psalter  are  a  treasury 
of  the  richest  gems  in  lyric  poetry.'2  They  celebrate 
such  themes  as  the  providence  of  God,  exhibited  in  the 
salvation  of  the  individual  or  the  nation,  or  in  the  Divine 

1  Above,  page  128. 

2  For  illustrations  and  references  see  in  the  Appendix. 


232  BIBLICAL   POETRY    AND    PROSE 

judgment  between  the  righteous  and  wicked.  They  give 
expression  to  the  spirit  of  trust,  or  consecration;  to 
every  aspect  of  the  devout  life.  Poetry  so  familiar  calls 
for  little  discussion;  it  seems  almost  invidious  to  make 
selection.  I  will,  however,  dwell  upon  one  topic,  which 
not  only  has  called  forth  much  poetry,  but  also  has  served 
as  a  centre  around  which  songs  have  drawn  together  into 
a  cluster  —  a  psalter  within  the  psalter.  Immediately 
following  the  hundred  and  nineteenth  psalm- fifteen 
poems  are  found  with  the  common  heading,  "  A  Song  of 
Ascents."  In  modern  phrase  this  series  of  poems  might 
be  styled,  "The  Pilgrim's  Hymnbook."  But  those  who 
are  responsible  for  the  arrangement  of  The  Book  of 
Psalms  have,  by  a  felicitous  stroke  of  literary  art, 
brought  together  two  very  different  conceptions  of  pil- 
grimage. One  is  of  pilgrimages  to  the  sacred  feasts, 
which  formed  so  picturesque  a  feature  of  Hebrew 
religion :  sacred  picnics,  in  which  pious  Israelites  from 
all  over  the  holy  land,  whole  families  together,  jour- 
neyed in  ever  increasing  throngs  towards  their  goal, 
Jerusalem.  But  a  very  different  experience  of  Israel 
may  be  described  by  the  word  '  pilgrimage '  —  the  toil- 
some march  of  the  delivered  captives  across  the  dreary 
desert  back  to  their  sacred  country.  Both  these  types 
of  pilgrim  experience  are  found  to  underlie  the  "Songs 
of  the  goings  up."  And  if  the  fifteen  psalms  are  read 
in  a  particular  order,  they  will  successively  unfold  a 
complete  drama  of  pilgrimage  in  the  extended  sense  of 
the  word. 

We  begin  with  a  cry  out  of  the  depths.1 

1  Psalm  cxxx. 


LYRIC    POETRY    OF   THE    BIBLE  233 

If  thou,  Lord,  shouldest  mark  iniquities, 

<  i  I  cud,  who  shall  stand  ? 

But  there  is  forgiveness  with  thee,  that  thou  niayest  be  feared. 

It  is  captive  Israel  that  is  thus  pleading  for  plenteous 
redemption  from  all  his  iniquities.  The  attitude  is  that 
of  waiting,  looking,  hoping. 

1  wait  for  the  Lord, 

My  soul  doth  wait, 

And  in  his  word  do  I  hope. 

My  soul  looketh  for  the  Lord, 

More  than  watchmen  look  for  the  morning; 

Yea,  more  than  watchmen  for  the  morning. 

In  this  darkest  hour  before  the  dawn  the  only  solace  *  is 
the  thought  of  Israel's  past  —  how  many  a  time  the  foes 
have  afflicted  him,  the  ploughers  making  long  their 
furrows,  yet  have  not  finally  prevailed.  Or  there  is 
relief  in  an  outpouring  of  hate  for  those  who  have  turned 
backward  from  the  nation  in  its  humiliation;  they  are 
cursed  with  the  curse  of  the  grass  upon  the  housetops, 
cut  off  from  the  joy  of  the  harvest  to  come,  and  withering 
before  it  can  grow  up.  Side  by  side  with  such  affliction 
of  the  nation  there  is  the  sad  experience  of  the  individual 
exile,1' sojourning  in  Meshech,  dwelling  among  the  tents 
of  Kedar;  all  around  are  the  "lying  lips,"  "deceitful 
tongue,"  of  the  hateful  foreign  speech,  perpetual 
reminder  of  exile,  bitter  as  sharp  arrows  or  stinging 
smoke.  Like  the  crowds  of  slaves,  in  these  lands  of 
foreign  tyranny,3  obsequiously  watching  the  slightest 
signal  of  some  harsh  master  or  mistress,  so  exiled  Israel, 
with  anxious  strain,  eyes  the  finger  of  providence  for 
the  first  sign  of  mercy.     And  at  last  the  mercy  comes.4 

1  Psalm  exxix.         -  Psalm  cxx.        :i  Psalm  exxiii.        4  Psalm  exxvi. 


234  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

When  the  Lord  turned  again  the  captivity  of  Zion, 
We  were  like  unto  them  that  dream. 

Then  was  our  mouth  filled  with  laughter, 

And  our  tongue  with  singing : 
Then  said  they  among  the  nations, 
The  Lord  hath  done  great  things  for  them, 

The  Lord  hath  done  great  things  for  us; 

Whereof  we  are  glad. 

Laughter  and  tears  meet  in  this  first  song  of  deliverance  : 
we  are  at  the  standpoint  of  those  exiles  who  have  re- 
joiced to  watch  the  first  bands  of  captives  setting  out 
for  the  holy  land,  while  they  themselves  must  be  content 
to  wait  for  their  own  mercies:  they  have  seen  the  seed 
time  and  hope  for  the  full  harvest. 

Turn  again  our  captivity,  O  Lord, 
As  the  streams  in  the  South. 

They  that  sow  in  tears 

Shall  reap  in  joy. 
Though  he  goeth  on  his  way  weeping, 
Bearing  forth  the  seed; 

He  shall  come  again  with  joy, 

Bringing  his  sheaves  with  him. 

Then  another  song,1  and  deliverance  is  complete:  — 

Our  soul  is  escaped  as  a  bird  out  of  the  snare  of  the  fowlers : 
The  snare  is  broken,  and  we  are  escaped. 

At  this  point  the  one  conception  of  pilgrimage  begins 
to  pass  into  the  other:  alike  for  those  who  journey  across 
the  desert  to  the  holy  land,  and  for  those  who  travel 
along  the  rocky  ways  of  Palestine  towards  Jerusalem,  the 
supreme  thought  is  the  Divine  protection  by  the  way.2 

1  Psalm  cxxiv.  2  Psalm  cxxi. 


LYRIC   POETRY   OF  THE   BIBLE  235 

I  will  lift  up  mine  eyes  unto  the  mountains : 
From  whence  shall  my  help  come? 
My  help  cometh  from  the  Lord, 
Which  made  heaven  and  earth. 

He  will  not  suffer  thy  foot  to  be  moved : 
He  that  keepeth  thee  will  not  slumber. 
Behold,  he  that  keepeth  Israel 
Shall  neither  slumber  nor  sleep. 

The  Lord  is  thy  keeper : 

The  Lord  is  thy  shade  upon  thy  right  hand. 

The  sun  shall  not  smite  thee  by  day, 

Xor  the  moon  by  night. 

The  concourse  of  pilgrims  was  made  up  of  whole  families 
blended  together;  we  remember  how  the  boy  Jesus  was 
lost  from  such  a  company,  and  for  a  whole  day  not 
missed.  Hence  it  is  not  surprising  that  three  hymns  in 
the  Pilgrim's  Hymnbook  are  family  songs.1  One  con- 
trasts the  two  sides  of  life :  the  life  of  work,  that  rises 
early,  and  takes  rest  late,  eating  the  bread  of  toil;  and 
the  home  life,  with  its  quiet  sleep  and  family  growing 
up  to  be  a  strength  to  parents.  Another  celebrates 
the  undistinguished  lot  of  happy  obscurity :  the  joy  of 
eating  what  the  labour  of  the  hands  has  provided, 
the  wife  as  a  fruitful  vine  with  children  all  around  as 
olive  plants,  the  patriotic  sympathy  with  a  prospering 
Jerusalem.  For  a  third  family  song,  the  babes  that  are 
being  carried  in  the  arms  suggest  the  ideal  of  a  quiet 
soul. 

Lord,  my  heart  is  not  haughty,  nor  mine  eyes  lofty; 
Neither  do  I  exercise  myself  in  great  matters, 
Or  in  things  too  wonderful  for  me. 

1  Psalms  exxvii,  exxviii,  exxxi. 


236  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND   PROSE 

Surely  I  have  stilled  and  quieted  my  soul  ; 
Like  a  weaned  child  with  his  mother, 
My  soul  is  with  me  like  a  weaned  child. 

The  point  of  the  pilgrimage  has  now  been  reached  at 
which  is  caught  the  first  glimpse  of  the  sacred  city  amid 
its  mountain  fastnesses:  there  is  a  moral  suggestiveness 
in  this  which  breaks  into  song.1 

They  that  trust  in  the  Lord  are  as  mount  Zion, 

Which  cannot  be  moved, 

But  abideth  for  ever. 
As  the  mountains  are  round  about  Jerusalem, 

So  the  Lord  is  round  about  his  people, 

Erom  this  time  forth  and  for  evermore. 

In  another  song  the  city  has  been  attained.2 

Our  feet  are  standing  within  thy  gates,  O  Jerusalem, 
Jerusalem,  that  art  builded  as  a  city  that  is  compact  together : 
Whither  the  tribes  go  up,  even  the  tribes  of  the  Lord.  .  .  . 
Pray  for  the  peace  of  Jerusalem  : 
They  shall  prosper  that  love  thee. 

The  concourse  in  one  spot  of  pilgrims  from  all  over  the 
land  gives  emphasis  to  the  unity  of  the  nation.3 

Behold,  how  good  and  how  pleasant  it"  is 
For  brethren  to  dwell  together  in  unity  ! 

The  link  of  patriotism  is  sweet  as  the  fragrant  ointment 
on  the  high  priest's  head;  the  multitudes  that  are  joined 
in  brotherhood  are  numerous  as  dewdrops  —  the  dew  of 
Hermon,  and  other  most  distant  portions  of  the  holy 
land,  all  descending  on  the  hill  of  Zion.  The  pilgrims 
take  their  part  in  the  sacred  festivals,  and  we  have  the 
historic  hymn  of  Temple  Dedication : 4  the  original  wel- 

1  Psalm  exxv.        2  Psalm  exxii.         3  Psalm  exxxiii.         4  Psalm  exxxii. 


LYRIC    POETRY   OF  THE   BIBLE  237 

come  of  the  ark  into  the  tabernacle  of  David,  with  an 
addition  made  for  the  inauguration  of  the  permanent 
Temple :  — 

For  the  Lord  hath  chosen  Zion  ; 

He  hath  desired  it  for  his  habitation. 

"This  is  my  resting  place  for  ever: 
Here  will  I  dwell  ;    for  I  have  desired  it." 

There  remains  only  the  departure  from  the  Temple : l  the 
greeting  spoken  to  the  Night  Watch  as  the  Congrega- 
tion retires,  — 

Behold,  bless  ye  the  Lord,  all  ye  servants  of  the  Lord, 
Which  by  night  stand  in  the  house  of  the  Lord  : 

Lift  up  your  hands  to  the  sanctuary, 
And  bless  ye  the  Lord. — 

with  the  answer  of  the  Night  Watch, — 

The  Lord  bless  thee  out  of  Zion  ; 

Even  he  that  made  heaven  and  earth. 

These  are  the  fifteen  songs  of  the  Pilgrim's  Hymn- 
book.  But  outside  this  group  is  to  be  found  the  most 
famous  of  the  psalms  which  are  inspired  by  the  pilgrim- 
ages to  Jerusalem.2 

How  lovely  are  thy  tabernacles,  O  Lord  of  Hosts ! 

My  soul  longeth,  yea,  even  fainteth  for  the  courts  of  the  Lord; 

My  heart  and  my  flesh  cry  out  unto  the  living  God. 

By  a  most  exquisite  image  the  singer  compares  himself 
to  a  sparrow  finding  herself  a  house,  and  a  swallow  a 
nest  where  she  may  lay  her  young:  just  as  the  mystic 
force  of  spring  stirs  the  birds  to  find  their  nesting-places, 
so  the  recurrence  of  the  sacred  festivals  rouses  the  wor- 

1  Psalm  cxxxiv.  -  Psalm  Ixxxiv. 


238  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

shipper  to  a  yearning  after  his  soul's  home  by  the  altars 
of  his  God.  Happiest  they  who  may  dwell  always  in 
the  house  of  God;  next  happy,  the  devout  pilgrim  —  the 
way  to  Zion  runs  through  his  heart.  Like  desert  places 
flushed  into  greenness  by  a  brief  season  of  rain,  so  the 
rocky  ways  of  Palestine  are  alive  at  the  festival  season 
with  thronging  pilgrims:  they  go  from  strength  to 
strength,  from  one  rocky  eminence  to  another,  until  all 
appear  before  God,  and  sing  together  their  pilgrims' 
hymn.  A  day  in  the  sacred  festivals  is  more  than  a 
thousand  of  worldly  rejoicings. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  dance  as  one  of  three  sources  for 
lyric  poetry.  A  second  is  closely  akin  —  the  wail,  or 
dirge.  Originally,  this  is  simply  the  particular  dance 
used  in  funeral  ceremonies;  where  lyric  poetry  in  gen- 
eral is  passing  from  spoken  to  written  style  the  wail  is 
retained  in  its  earlier  form  by  the  influence  of  the  pro- 
fessional mourners,  who  are  called  in  to  give  expression 
to  the  sorrow  of  bereavement.  The  representative  of 
the  dirge  in  later  literature  is  the  elegy,  which,  with  or 
without  its  peculiar  'elegiac  rhythm,'  is  a  marked  type 
of  lyric  poetry.  Among  famous  elegies  is  that  of  David 
over  Saul  and  Jonathan,1  with  its  plaintive  refrain,  — 

How  are  the  mighty  —  fallen  ! 

Another  is  the  psalm 2  which  is  founded  on  the  vine,  as 
the  national  emblem  of  Israel,  and  describes  this  vine  as 
broken  down  and  ravaged  by  beasts  of  the  field.  Most 
famous  of  all  are  the  series  of  five  Lamentations  over 
Fallen  Jerusalem,  ascribed  to  the  prophet  Jeremiah.     It 

i  II  Samuel  i.  2  Psalm  Ixxx. 


LYRIC   POETRY   OF  THE   BIBLE  239 

is  impossible  to  speak  here  of  the  most  remarkable 
feature  of  these  lamentations  —  the  intricacy  of  their 
rhythmic  and  acrostic  structure  —  since  these  are  but 
faintly  represented  in  current  translations  of  Scripture. 
In  matter,  these  elegies  make  a  half  dramatic  picture  of 
desolation,  with  voices  —  of  Jerusalem,  of  the  Mourning 
People,  of  the  Prophet  who  shares  his  city's  woe  — 
lengthening  out  a  wail  of  misery:  — 

Is  it  nothing  to  you  all  ye  that  pass  by  ? 

There  is  just  a  single  note  of  hope:  — 

It  is  of  the  Lord's  mercies  that  we  are  not  consumed,  be- 

cause his  compassions  fail  not. 

They  are  new  every  morning;  great  is  thy  faithfulness. 

The  Lord  is  my  portion,   saith  my  soul;  therefore  will  I 

hope  in  him. 

There  is  a  third  source  for  lyric  poetry.  Hebrew  lit- 
erature, we  have  seen,  rests  its  verse  system,  not  on 
metre  or  rhyme,  but  on  the  parallelism  of  clauses.  But 
parallelism  of  clauses  is  a  thing  which,  in  all  languages, 
belongs  to  oratory  and  other  exalted  prose.  It  is  thus  a 
peculiar  distinction  of  Hebrew  that  it  can  make  smooth 
and  rapid  transitions  between  prose  and  verse,  and  — 
since  form  is  a  reflection  of  spirit  —  between  the  type 
of  thought  which  belongs  to  prose  and  the  type  of 
thought  which  is  essentially  poetic.  When  Lamech  is 
suddenly  conscious  of  the  deadly  power  of  the  weapons 
he  has  invented,1  when  Noah  is  moved  to  curse  or  Isaac 
to  bless  his  sons,2  when  Balaam  at  the  sight  of  Israel 
feels  a  rush  of    prophetic    inspiration3 — in  all   these 

1  Genesis  iv.  23.  2  Genesis  ix.  25;  xxvii.  27. 

■''  Xumbers  xxiii.  7,  etc. 


240  BIBLICAL   POETRY    AND    PROSE 

cases  the  prose  narrative  is  seen  to  break  into  verse. 
Thus  spontaneous  elevation  of  discourse  becomes  a  natu- 
ral origin  of  lyric  poetry.  In  a  great  collection  like 
The  Book  of  Psalms  it  is  obviously  impossible  to  refer 
each  particular  poem  to  its  ultimate  source;  but,  speak- 
ing generally,  it  is  safe  to  connect  with  this  third  class 
of  lyrics  the  monologues  of  the  psalter,  poems  in  which 
a  speaker  is  heard  to  offer  prayer,  or  express  penitence, 
or  relate  his  experience. 

In  this  connection  there  arises  an  important  question 
of  interpretation.  Who  are  the  speakers  in  these  lyric 
monologues  of  Scripture? 

The  Lord  is  my  shepherd;  I  shall  not  want. 

Of  whom  are  we  to  think  as  the  'I,'  thus  claiming  Divine 
protection?  The  earlier  interpretations,  that  took  little 
note  either  of  historic  or  literary  discriminations,  sup- 
posed David  the  speaker  throughout  almost  every  psalm, 
and  searched  the  circumstances  of  David's  life  in  order 
to  find  an  historic  fitting  for  particular  poems.  A  reac- 
tion from  this  extreme  has  tended  to  discredit  the  idea 
of  personal  speakers  in  the  psalms,  and  substitute  the 
nationality  of  Israel.  I  would  suggest  that  only  in  a 
few  cases  is  either  of  these  modes  of  interpretation 
justified.  The  eighteenth  psalm  has  in  its  last  verse  the 
name  of  David  like  a  signature,  and  the  historical  books 
cite  this  poem  at  length  as  an  expression  of  thanks- 
giving for  David's  victorious  career.  We  have  seen  how 
several  of  the  songs  of  ascents  expressly  speak  in  the 
name  of  Israel.  In  the  familiar  fifty-first  psalm,  which 
opens  with  the  words,  — 


LYRIC   POETRY   OF  THE    BIBLE  241 

Have  mercy  upon  me,  O  God,  according  to  thy  loving- 
kindness  ; 

According  to  the  multitude  of  thy  tender  mercies  blot 
out  my  transgressions.  — 

the  body  of  the  poem  is  unmistakably  the  outpouring  of 
an  individual  heart  labouring  under  a  sense  of  sin,  while 
a  postscript  serves  to  generalise  the  whole  and  adapt  it 
to  national  penitence:  — 

Do  good  in  thy  good  pleasure  unto  Zion  : 

Build  thou  the  walls  of  Jerusalem. 
Then  shalt  thou  delight  in  the  sacrifices  of  righteousness, 
in  burnt  offering  and  whole  burnt  offering  : 

Then  shall  they  offer  bullocks  upon  thine  altar. 

But  in  the  great  majority  of  cases  it  is  a  sounder,  and 
far  more  literary  interpretation,  to  understand  the 
speaker  of  a  monologue  as  an  ideal  personage,  and  the 
circumstances  pourtrayed  as  purely  general.  To  take  an 
example.     The  twenty-second  psalm  opens  thus :  — 

My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  ? 

The  question  is,  Who  is  the  despairing  speaker,  and 
what  is  his  trouble?  If  we  examine  the  details  of  the 
poem  with  a  view  to  particularise  the  circumstances  we 
find  conflicting  suggestions. 

O  my  God,  I  cry  in  the  day-time,  but  thou  answerest  not ; 
And  in  the  night  season,  and  am  not  silent. 

This  by  itself  would  convey  the  idea  of  spiritual  trouble. 

All  they  that  see  me  laugh  me  to  scorn  : 

They  shoot  out  the  lip,  they  shake  the  head. 

Thfs  would  fit  better  with  some  public  shame. 


242  BIBLICAL   POETRY    AND    PROSE 

Many  bulls  have  compassed  me  : 

Strong  bulls  of  Bashan  have  beset  me  round. 

They  gape  upon  me  with  their  mouth, 
As  a  ravening  and  a  roaring  lion. 

These  lines,  whether  read  literally  or  metaphorically, 
can  only  imply  external  foes;  but  the  very  next  lines  are 
equally  clear  in  suggesting  internal  pain:  — 

I  am  poured  out  like  water, 

And  all  my  bones  are  out  of  joint. 
My  heart  is  like  wax;   it  is  melted  in  the  midst  of  my  bowels. 

My  strength  is  dried  up  like  a  potsherd; 
And  my  tongue  cleaveth  to  my  jaws; 

And  thou  hast  brought  me  into  the  dust  of  death. 

Immediately  there  is  a  transition  to  the  idea  of  external 
foes : — 

For  dogs  have  compassed  me  : 

The  assembly  of  evil-doers  have  inclosed  me; 
They  pierced  my  hands  and  my  feet :  — 

back  again  to  that  of  bodily  suffering:  — 

I  may  tell  all  my  bones : 

They  look  and  stare  upon  me:  — 

yet  again  back  to  external  foes :  — 

They  part  my  garments  among  them, 
And  upon  my  vesture  do  they  cast  lots. 

If  we  seek  to  construct  an  historical  incident  out  of  such 
varied  and  conflicting  suggestions  interpretation  must 
descend  to  the  level  of  puzzle-guessing.  Poetic  sym- 
pathy, on  the  other  hand,  will  see  at  once  in  the  details 
of  the  psalm,  not  actual  facts,  but  metaphorical  repre- 
sentations of  trouble  in  all  its  varied  aspects:  situations 
of  despair  are  idealised  in  a  common  picture,  and  in 
ideal  treatment  salvation  from   on   high   is  presented. 


LYRIC    POETRY   OF   THE    BIBLE  243 

Devotion  gains  as  much  as  poetry  from  this  freer  inter 
pretation.  The  historical  allusions,  which  so  generally 
have  been  searched  for  by  commentators,  even  if  they 
could  be  established,  would  be  so  much  limitation  upon 
the  wide  applicability  of  the  poem.  The  ideal,  on  the 
contrary,  is  realism  universalised ;  and  where  the  poetic 
is  substituted  for  the  historic  interpretation  every  reader 
may  become  himself  the  hero  of  what  he  reads. 

The  monologues  of  the  psalter  may  be  dramatic,  where 
the  words  of  a  speaker  present  an  experience  as  actually 
going  on,  and  in  addition  a  change  of  circumstances  is 
presented  within  the  poem  itself,  from  trouble  to  deliv- 
erance. Such  combination  of  a  personal  speaker  with 
dramatic  movement  may  make  a  brief  psalm  a  complete 
drama  in  miniature.  One  out  of  many  examples1  is  the 
fifty-seventh  psalm. 

Be  merciful  unto  me,  O  God,  be  merciful  unto  me; 

For  my  soul  taketh  refuge  in  thee  : 

Yea,  in  the  shadow  of  thy  wings  will  I  take  refuge, 

Until  these  calamities  be  overpast.  .   .  . 

My  soul  is  among  lions; 

I  lie  among  them  that  are  set  on  fire, 

Even  the  sons  of  men,  whose  teeth  are  spears  and  arrows, 

And  their  tongue  a  sharp  sword.  .  .  . 

They  have  prepared  a  net  for  my  steps; 

My  soul  is  bowed  down  : 

They  have  digged  a  pit  before  me  — 

Up  to  this  point,  it  is  clear,  we  have  a  picture  of  a  suf- 
ferer in  the  midst  of  his  suffering;  suddenly,  it  appears, 
the  deliverance  has  come,  and  the  psalm  changes  wholly 
to  triumph  and  thanksgiving:  — 

1  Here  (as  always)  examples  are  collected  together  in  the  Appendix. 


244  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

They  have  digged  a  pit  before  me  — 
They  are  fallen  into  the  midst  thereof  themselves  ! 
My  heart  is  fixed,  O  God,  my  heart  is  fixed. 
I  will  sing,  yea,  I  will  sing  praises. 
Awake  up,  my  glory;   awake,  psaltery  and  harp: 
I  myself  will  awake  right  early. 

I  will  give  thanks  unto  thee,  O  Lord,  among  the  peoples: 
I  will  sing  praises  unto  thee  among  the  nations. 

An  interesting  example  of  this  type  is  the  third  psalm, 
where  the  change  of  circumstances  is  between  the  de- 
pression natural  to  the  close  of  a  day,  and  the  fresh 
vigour  of  morning;  the  brief  lyric  is  a  miniature  drama 
in  two  scenes. 

Night 
Lord,  how  are  mine  adversaries  increased 

Many  are  they  that  rise  up  against  me. 
Many  there  be  which  say  of  my  soul, 

There  is  no  help  for  him  in  God. 
But  thou,  O  Lord,  art  a  shield  about  me; 

My  glory,  and  the  lifter  up  of  mine  head. 
I  cry  unto  the  Lord  with  my  voice, 

And  he  answereth  me  out  of  his  holy  hill. 

Morning 
I  laid  me  down  and  slept; 

I  awaked;   for  the  Lord  sustaineth  me. 
I  will  not  be  afraid  of  ten  thousands  of  the  people, 

That  have  set  themselves  against  me  round  about : 
Arise,  O  Lord  ;   save  me,  O  my  God : 

For  Ihou  hast  smitten  all  mine  enemies  upon  the  cheek  bone; 

Thou  hast  broken  the  teeth  of  the  wicked. 
Salvation  belongeth  unto  the  Lord; 

Thy  blessing  be  upon  thy  people. 

Or  the  dramatic  movement  may  be  wholly  within  the 
realm  of  the  spiritual.  This  is  the  case  with  the  hun- 
dred and  thirty-ninth  psalm.     At  the  outset  the  singer  is 


LYRIC    POETRY    OF  THE    BIBLE  24S 

oppressed  with  the  weight  of  Divine  omniscience  and 
omnipresence. 

()  Lord,  thou  hast  searched  me,  and  known  mc. 

Thou  knowest  my  downsitting  and  mine  uprising, 

Thou  understandest  my  thought  afar  off.  4 

Thou  searchest  out  my  patli  and  my  lying  down, 

And  art  acquainted  with  all  my  ways. 
For  there  is  not  a  word  in  my  tongue, 

But,  lo,  O  Lord,  thou  knowest  it  altogether. 
Thou  hast  beset  me  behind  and  before, 

And  laid  thine  hand  upon  me. 

The  movement  of  the  thought  begins  as  the  speaker 
seeks  to  escape  from  this  besetting  Divinity  —  in  vain: 
the  presence  he  would  elude  fills  alike  heaven  above  and 
the  abyss  beneath;  before  its  piercing  gaze  darkness  and 
light  are  alike.  The  encircling  providence  has  extended 
backward  through  life  to  the  womb  itself.  But  it  is  just 
here  —  where  the  climax  has  been  attained  —  that  the 
current  of  thought  begins  to  flow  back:  the  watchfulness 
that  encircled  the  helpless  babe  seems  a  mercy  and  not 
a  terror. 

I  will  give  thanks  unto  thee;    for  I  am  fearfully  and  wonderfully 
made  : 

Wonderful  are  thy  works; 

And  that  my  soul  knoweth  right  well. 
My  frame  was  not  hidden  from  thee, 

When  I  was  made  in  secret, 

And  curiously  wrought  in  the  lowest  parts  of  the  earth. 
Thine  eyes  did  see  mine  unperfect  substance, 

And  in  thy  book  were  all  my  members  written, 
Which  day  by  day  were  fashioned, 

When  as  yet  there  was  none  of  them. 

The  new  train  of  feeling  gathers  force,  until  the  never 


246  BIBLICAL    POETRY   AND    PROSE 

ceasing  thoughtfulness  of  God  for  his  creature  brings 
only  comfort.  It  gathers  yet  greater  force  in  a  sudden 
burst  of  purity. 

Surely  thou  wilt  slay  the  wicked,  O  God : 

Depart  from  me  therefore,  ye  bloodthirsty  men.  .  .  . 

Do,  not  I  hate  them,  O  Lord,  that  hate  thee? 

And  am  not  I  grieved  with  those  that  rise  up  against  thee? 

I  hate  them  with  perfect  hatred : 
I  count  them  mine  enemies. 

The  final  climax  is  found  in  a  reversal  of  the  opening 
thought. 

Search  me,  O  God,  and  know  my  he'/t: 

Try  me,  and  know  my  thoughts : 
And  see  if  there  be  any  way  of  wickedness  in  me, 

And  lead  me  in  the  way  everlasting. 

Other  psalms  may  be  dramatic,  not  so  much  by  their 
movement,  as  through  their  vivid  presentation  of  a  single 
scene.  The  fiftieth  psalm  is  a  Vision  of  Judgment.  At 
the  outset  the  whole  earth,  from  the  rising  to  the  setting 
of  the  sun,  has  been  summoned  before  the  bar  of  God; 
throughout  the  prelude  the  saints  are  preparing  for  the 
desired,  yet  dreadful,  ordeal. 

Our  God  cometh,  and  shall  not  keep  silence : 

A  fire  devoureth  before  him, 

And  it  is  very  tempestuous  round  about  him. 

The  body  of  the  poem  is  made  up  of  the  addresses  of 
Jehovah,  exactly  symmetrical  in  structure,  to  the  right- 
eous and  the  wicked  thus  gathered  before  him,  exalting 
the  thoughts  of  the  one  to  a  higher  conception  of  wor- 
ship, refusing  from  the  wicked  a  homage  divorced  from 
right  living.  The  double  thought  is  gathered  up  in  the 
concluding  couplet:  — 


LYRIC   POETRY   OF  THE   BIBLE  247 

Wlmso  offereth  the  sacrifice  of  thanksgiving  glorifieth  me; 

And   to   him   that  ordereth  his  conversation  aright  will  I  show  the 
salvation  of  God. 

There  is  one  peculiar  type  of  lyric  poem  in  The  Book 
of  Psalms  which  seems  to  combine  the  lyric  monologue 
with  the  anthem  previously  described.  The  twenty-/ 
seventh  psalm,  at  its  outset,  is  a  celebration  of  provi- 
dential mercies  in  the  manner  of  a  ritual  anthem;  later 
on  —  as  one  mode  of  emphasising  the  theme  —  there  is 
dramatic  presentation  of  the  trouble  and  deliverance 
which  is  calling  forth  the  song  of  thanksgiving.  Thus 
the  opening  lines  of  the  poem  are  crowded  with  images 
of  Divine  succour  in  moments  of  dire  extremity. 

The  Lord  is  my  light  and  my  salvation : 

Whom  shall  I  fear? 
The  Lord  is  the  strength  of  my  life; 

Of  whom  shall  I  be  afraid  ? 
When  evil-doers  came  upon  me 

To  eat  up  my  flesh, 
Even  mine  adversaries  and  my  foes, 

They  stumbled  and  fell. 
Though  an  host  should  encamp  against  me, 

My  heart  shall  not  fear  : 
Though  war  should  rise  against  me, 

Even  then  will  I  be  confident. 

This  portion  of  the  psalm  finds  a  climax  in  aspiration 
after  a  life-long  abode  in  the  house  of  God,  as  a  pavilion 
of  security  and  a  scene  of  joyous  worship.  In  the  very 
next  line  the  speaker  is  heard  pleading  for  succour  as  if 
from  the  depths  of  woe. 

Hear,  O  Lord,  when  I  cry  with  my  voice : 
Have  mercy  also  upon  me,  and  answer  me. 
"  Seek  ye  my  face  —  " 


248  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

My  heart  said  unto  thee,  Thy  face,  Lord,  will  I  seek. 

Hide  not  thy  face  from  me; 

Put  not  thy  servant  away  in  anger. 

All  this  is  no  more  than  the  dramatisation  of  the  trouble, 
salvation  from  which  has  just  been  celebrated:  how  dra- 
matic the  treatment  is  may  be  seen  in  the  sudden  return 
to  the  tone  of  rejoicing  at  the  conclusion  of  the  psalm. 

I  had  fainted,  unless  I  had  believed  to  see  the  goodness  of  the  Lord 

in  the  land  of  the  living. 
Wait  on  the  Lord  :  be  strong,  and  let  thine  heart  take  courage; 
Yea,  wait  thou  on  the  Lord. 

In  this  way  a  dramatic  monologue  has  been  made  a  part 
of  a  ritual  anthem. 

Before  closing  this  chapter  it  is  proper  to  speak  of  a 
considerable  poem  outside  The  Book  of  Psalms.  This 
is  The  Song  of  Songs,  commonly  known  as  Solomon'' 's 
Song.  The  literary  description  of  this  poem  is  lyric 
idyl.1  The  term  'idyl '  has  been  appropriated  to  what, 
in  poetic  tradition,  have  been  considered  the  'trifles '  of 
life  —  love  and  domestic  scenes,  as  distinguished  from 
war  and  heroic  deeds.  Thus  The  Book  of  Ruth  is  a  story 
idyl.  In  the  present  case  the  story  is  not  narrated,  as  in 
Ruth,  nor  is  it  presented  continuously,  as  in  a  drama; 
but  different  parts  of  the  story  appear  before  us  in  dis- 
connected meditations,  each  meditation  having  for  the 
most  part  the   form  of  dramatic  dialogue.     Told  con- 

1  The  view  here  followed  is  not  the  usual  interpretation.  The  poem 
is  generally  interpreted  as  a  drama,  and  the  resulting  story  is  quite 
different.  The  question  is  fully  discussed  in  my  Literary  Study  of  the 
Bible,  Chapter  VIII,  or  in  the  Biblical  Idyls  volume  of  The  Modern 
Reader  s  Bible. 


LYRIC    POETRY   OF  THE   BIBLE  IV) 

nectedly,  the  story  underlying  TJie  Song  of  Songs  would 
stand  thus.  King  Solomon  with  his  court  are  visiting 
the  royal  vineyards  upon  Mount  Lebanon,  and  come  by 
surprise  upon  a  fair  Shulainmite  maiden,  sister  of  the 
keepers  of  the  vineyard.  The  maiden  is  embarrassed 
and  flees.  Solomon,  smitten  with  her  beauty,  woos  her 
in  the  disguise  of  a  simple  shepherd,  and  wins  her  love. 
He  then  appears  in  his  royal  state,  and  invites  her  to 
become  his  queen.  The  two  are  married  in  the  royal 
palace.  In  the  order  of  the  poem  itself  the  successive 
idyls  commence  with  the  wedding,  go  back  in  time  to 
the  courtship,  and  then  go  forward  to  what,  in  modern 
phrase,  we  may  call  the  close  of  the  honeymoon. 

The  first  of  the  seven  idyls  presents  The  Wedding 
Day.  The  procession  is  approaching  the  palace :  Solo- 
mon leads  the  Bride,  who  is  followed  by  a  Chorus  of 
Daughters  of  Jerusalem  —  in  modern  phrase,  the  Brides- 
maids. 

The  Bride.     Let  him  kiss  me  with  the  kisses  of  his  mouth  : 
For  thy  love  is  better  than  wine. 
Thine  ointments  have  a  goodly  fragrance; 
Thy  name  is  as  ointment  poured  forth : 
Therefore  do  the  virgins  love  thee. 

A  pause  is  made  for  the  central  point  of  the  wedding 
ceremony,  the  lifting  of  the  Bride  over  the  threshold. 

The  Bride  (jto  the  Bridegroom).      Draw  me  — 

The  Bridesmaids.      We  will  run  after  thee  — 

The  Bride.  The  king  hath  brought  me  into  his  chambers  — 

The  Bridesmaids.     We  will  be  glad  and  rejoice  in  thee, 

We  will  make  mention  of  thy  love  more  than 
of  wine. 
The  Bride.  In  uprightness  do  they  love  thee. 


250  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

The  scene  changes  to  the  inside  of  the  palace.  The 
Bride,  as  a  sunburnt  beauty  from  the  country,  apologises 
for  her  rustic  appearance  to  the  paler  city  girls;. 

Look  not  upon  me,  because  I  am  swarthy, 

Because  the  sun  hath  scorched  me. 
My  mother's  sons  were  incensed  against  me, 
They  made  me  keeper  of  the  vineyards, 
But  mine  own  vineyard  have  I  not  kept ! 

Next  follow  whisperings  between  Bride  and  Bridegroom 
—  reminiscences  <^r  the  fond  puzzle  of  that  wooing, 
when  she  would  seek  to  penetrate  the  mystery  of  the 
shepherd  lover,  and  he  would  put  aside  her  questions 
with  explanations  that  explained  nothing. 

She.     Tell  me,  O  thou  whom  my  soul  loveth, 
Where  thou  feedest  thy  flock, 
Where  thou  makest  it  to  rest  at  noon : 
For  why  should  I  be  as  one  that  wandereth 
Beside  the  flocks  of  thy  companions  ? 

He.  If  thou  know  not,  O  thou  fairest  among  women, 
Go  thy  way  forth  by  the  footsteps  of  the  flock, 
And  feed  thy  kids  beside  the  shepherds'  tents. 

The  rest  of  the  first  idyl  follows  the  procession  from 
banquet  hall  to  bridal  chamber,  with  its  exchanges  of 
endearing  speeches. 

She.     I  am  a  rose  of  Sharon  [i.e.  of  the  lowly  plain~\, 

A  lily  of  the  valleys. 
He.      As  a  lily  among  thorns, 

So  is  my  love  among  the  daughters. 
She.     As  the  apple  tree  among  the  trees  of  the  wood, 

So  is  my  beloved  among  the  sons. 

When  the  chamber  has  been  reached  the  close  of  the 
first  idyl  is  marked  by  one  of  the  Refrains,  such  as  are 


LYRIC   POETRY   OF  THE    BIBLE  251 

repeated  at  all  the  dividing  points  of  the  poem.  These 
passages  are  not  spoken  by  the  parties  to  the  story,  but 
are  conventional  verses,  used  in  all  poetry  of  this  type, 
like  instrumental  symphonies  between  the  verses  of  a 
song,  just  to  divide  and  to  keep  up  the  amatory  spirit 
of  the  whole  poem.  The  refrain  in  this  first  case  is  the 
conventional  cry  to  leave  lovers  to  their  repose. 

I  adjure  you,  O  daughters  of  Jerusalem, 
By  the  roes,  and  by  the  hinds  of  the  field, 

That  ye  stir  not  up,  nor  awaken  love, 
Until  it  please. 

The  second  idyl  is  made  up  of  the  Bride's  reminis- 
cences of  the  courtship:  how  her  lover  came  to  her 
rustic  home,  and  his  sweet  voice  was  heard  amid  the 
sweetness  of  the  Spring  scene. 

"  For,  lo,  the  winter  is  past, 
The  rain  is  over  and  gone; 
The  flowers  appear  on  the  earth; 

The  time  of  the  singing  of  birds  is  come, 

And  the  voice  of  the  turtle  is  heard  in  our  land." 

Suddenly  rough  voices  jarred  upon  this  sweetness  —  her 

brothers  crying   that   the    foxes   had   broken    into    the 

vineyard,  — 

"  Take  us  the  foxes, 
The  little  foxes  that  spoil  the  vineyards; 
For  our  vineyards  are  in  blossom." 

Another  reminiscence  is  that  of  a  happy  dream. 

By  night,  on  my  bed,  I  sought  him  whom  my  soul  loveth  : 

I  sought  him,  but  I  found  him  not. 
I  said,  I  will  rise  now,  and  go  about  the  city, 

In  the  streets  and  in  the  broad  ways, 


252  BIBLICAL    POETRY    AND    PROSE 

1  will  seek  him  whom  my  soul  loveth  : 

I  sought  him,  but  I  found  him  not. 
The  watchmen  that  go  about  the  city  found  me : 

To  whom  I  said,  Saw  ye  him  whom  my  soul  loveth? 
It  was  but  a  little  that  I  passed  from  them, 

When  I  found  him  whom  my  soul  loveth  : 

I  held  him,  and  would  not  let  him  go, 
Until  I  had  brought  him  into  my  mother's  house, 

And  into  the  chamber  of  her  that  conceived  me. 

As  a  dividing  point  between  these  two  reminiscences 
another  conventional  refrain  has  been  used. 

My  beloved  is  mine,  and  I  am  his : 

He  feedeth  his  flock  among  the  lilies. 
Until  the  day  break,  and  the  shadows  flee  away, 
Turn,  my  beloved,  and  be  thou  like  a  roe  or  a  young  hart 

Upon  the  mountains  of  separation. 

The  third  idyl  brings  before  us  the  Day  of  Betrothal, 
when  Solomon,  who  had  wooed  as  a  humble  shepherd, 
goes  as  a  king  to  claim  his  love  for  his  queen. 

Who  is  this  that  cometh  up  out  of  the  wilderness 

Like  pillars  of  smoke, 
Perfumed  with  myrrh  and  frankincense, 

With  all  powders  of  the  merchant? 
Behold,  it  is  the  litter  of  Solomon; 

Threescore  mighty  men  are  about  it, 
Of  the  mighty  men  of  Israel. 

They  all  handle  the  sword,  and  are  expert  in  war: 
Every  man  hath  his  sword  upon  his  thigh, 

Because  of  fear  in  the  night. 

After  further  elaborate  lyric  picturing  of  the  royal  pro- 
cession the  idyl  becomes  dramatic  dialogue;  here  the 
actual  proposal  of  marriage  is  reached,  veiled  in 
symbolic  language. 


LYRIC    l'<  >1. 1  R\    ( >F  THE    BIB1  1.  253 

Solomon.     Come  with  me  from  Lebanon,  my  bride  .  .  . 

A  garden  shut  up  is  my  sister,  my  bride; 

A  spring  shut  up, 

A  fountain  sealed.   .   .  . 
The  Shulammite.     Awake,  O  north  wind ;  and  come,  thou  south  : 

Blow  upon  my  garden, 

That  the  spices  thereof  may  flow  out. 
Let  my  beloved  come  into  his  garden, 

And  eat  his  precious  fruits. 

The  fourth  idyl  is  a  troubled  dream  of  the  Bride,  con- 
trasting with  the  happy  dream  of  the  second  song.  Her 
lover  has  come  in  the  same  manner  to  her  home,  but  by 

night. 

"  Open  to  me, 

My  sister,  my  love, 
My  dove,  my  undefiled  : 
For  my  head  is  filled  with  dew, 

My  locks  with  the  drops  of  the  night." 

While  the  Shulammite  (in  her  dream)  was  pausing  a 
moment  to  array  herself,  and  dip  her  fingers  in  the 
myrrh,  the  lover  was  gone.  She  wanders  out  in  vain  to 
find  him;  again  she  meets  the  watchmen,  but  they  smite 
her  and  take  away  her  veil.  With  the  beautiful  confu- 
sion of  dream  movement  she  finds  herself  accosting  the 
Bridesmaids  of  the  first  song. 

The  Bride.     I  adjure  you,  O  daughters  of  Jerusalem, 
If  ye  find  my  beloved, 
That  ye  tell  him,  that  I  am  sick  of  love. 
The  Bridesmaids.     What  is  thy  beloved  more  than  another 
beloved, 
O  thou  fairest  among  women, 
What   is  thy  beloved   more   than   another 
beloved, 
That  thou  dost  so  adjure  us  ? 


254  BIBLICAL    POETRY   AND   PROSE 

As  she  answers  the  challenge,  and  extols  her  lover's  per- 
fections, the  whole  spirit  of  the  dream  changes,  and  the 
fourth  idyl  ends  with  the  happy  refrain :  — 

I  am  my  beloved's, 

And  my  beloved  is  mine  : 

He  feedeth  his  flock  among  the  lilies. 

In  the  fifth  idyl  we  have  the  king  meditating  on  his 
Bride.  For  the  most  part  it  is  a  passionate  catalogue  of 
bodily  charms.  But  at  one  point  the  song  glides  into 
a  reminiscence  of  that  which  is  the  foundation  of  the 
whole  story  —  the  first  meeting  of  the  lovers  in  the  vine- 
yards of  Lebanon.  A  few  lines  convey  the  surprise  of 
king  and  courtiers  at  the  vision  of  stately  beauty  so 
unexpectedly  facing  them  under  the  apple  trees. 

Who  is  she  that  looketh  forth  as  the  morning, 
Fair  as  the  moon,  pure  as  the  sun, 
Terrible  as  an  army  with  banners  ? 

As  if  it  were  a  dialogue  of  reminiscences,  the  Shulam- 
mite's  side  of  the  mutual  surprise  finds  expression. 

I  went  down  into  the  garden  of  nuts, 
To  see  the  green  plants  of  the  valley, 

To  see  whether  the  vine  budded, 

And  the  pomegranates  were  in  flower. 

Or  ever  I  was  aware,  my  soul  set  me 

Among  the  chariots  of  my  princely  people. 

As  the  maiden  fled  (the  king  remembers)  the  court 
broke  into  a  murmur  of  remonstrance. 

Return,  return,  O  Shulammite  ; 

Return,  return,  that  we  may  look  upon  thee. 

The  Shulammite' s  embarrassment  under  this  gaze 
follows. 


LYRIC    P<  >ETRY   OF    nil".    BIBLE  255 

Why  will  ye  look  upon  the  Shulammite  ; 
As  upon  the  dance  of  Mahanaim  ? 

Such  was  the  first  shock  of  love,  now  developed  into  the 
raptures  of  married  life,  with  which  the  fifth  song  is 
filled. 

The  last  two  idyls  carry  us  forward  in  time.  The 
Bride,  wearied  of  a  royal  palace,  has  a  longing  to  renew 
the  mutual  love  in  the  very  spot  where  first  it  was 
pledged.  Accordingly,  we  have  another  journeying 
through  the  wilderness  —  not  now  a  royal  cortege,  but 
the  Bride  on  the  arm  of  her  beloved  —  and  a  renewal  of 
the  meeting  in  the  vineyard  of  Lebanon,  the  old  home 
of  the  Shulammite. 

Solomon.  Under  the  apple  tree  I  awakened  thee : 

There  thy  mother  was  in  travail  with  thee, 
There  was  she  in  travail  that  brought  thee  forth. 

The  Bride.     Set  me  as  a  seal  upon  thine  heart, 
As  a  seal  upon  thine  arm  : 
For  love  is  strong  as  death; 
Jealousy  is  cruel  as  the  grave. 

Such  prattle  as  lovers  use  follows.  Especially  pretty  is 
the  conceit  with  which  the  Bride  expresses  once  more 
the  surrender  of  her  heart,  a  conceit  founded  on  the 
circumstance  that  her  husband  is  (in  modern  phrase) 
the  'landlord  '  of  this  home  of  herself  and  her  brothers. 

Solomon  had  a  vineyard  at  Baal-hamon ; 
He  let  out  the  vineyard  unto  keepers  ; 
Everyone  for  the  fruit  thereof  was  to  bring  a  thousand 
pieces  of  silver. 

My  vineyard,  which  is  mine,  is  before  me  : 
Thou,  O  Solomon,  shalt  have  the  thousand, 
And  those  that  keep  the  fruit  thereof  two  hundred. 


256  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND   PROSE 

In  other  words,  Solomon  is  the  owner  of  her  heart :  the 
people  of  this  her  home  have  been  but  temporary  ten- 
ants. Sounds  are  heard  of  the  escort  approaching,  and 
with  a  final  embrace  the  poem  concludes. 

A  modern  reader  of  Solomon'1  s  Song  is  apt  to  feel  some 
surprise  at  the  warmth  of  the  amatory  language  in  which 
the  poem  abounds,  and  the  way  in  which,  apparently 
without  reserve,  the  two  lovers  dwell  upon  each  other's 
bodily  charms.  No  doubt  the  East  is  more  passionate 
than  the  sober  West.  But,  in  part,  this  first  impression 
of  the  poem  is  due  to  a  literary  difference  between  Eng- 
lish and  Oriental :  the  use  in  the  poetry  of  the  East  of 
symbolism.  Imagery  paints  pictures  that  appeal  to  the 
imagination;  in  symbolic  poetry  the  meaning  is  con- 
veyed without  any  details  on  which  the  imagination  can 
work.  Notwithstanding  the  descriptions  in  The  Song  of 
Songs  we  do  not  know  what  the  lovers  were  like.  In  one 
line  the  hero's  locks  are  pronounced  to  be  of  most  fine 
gold,  in  the  next,  we  read  of  locks  bushy  and  black  as  a 
raven.  The  heroine's  eyes  are  exalted  by  being  com- 
pared to  pools  in  Heshbon,  her  nose  to  the  tower  of 
Lebanon.  Everything  is  conventionally  expressed: 
maidenhood  is  a  garden  shut  up,  chastity  is  a  wall;  the 
lover  bending  over  his  bride  is  a  'banner  of  love  '  waving 
over  her;  she  does  not  clasp  him  to  her  bosom,  but  bids 
him  sport  on  the  'mountains  of  separation.'  Symbolism 
is  literary  reserve:  and  in  this  particular  poetic  style 
it  is  most  fitting  to  give  expression  to  nuptial  love. 
Undoubtedly  the  poem,  as  here  interpreted,  is  a  cele- 
bration of  pure  conjugal  love  —  the  purer,  since  it  is 
conjugal  love  triumphing  over  the  established  pleasures 
of   the  harem, — 


LYRIC   POETRY    OF   THE    BIBLE  257 

There  are  threescore  queens, 

And  fourscore  concubines, 

And  virgins  without  number: 
My  dove,  my  undetiled,  is  but  one. 

Hence,  in  its  secondary  interpretation,  Solomon's  Song 
has  been  traditionally  understood  in  a  spiritual  sense, 
as  when  Isaiah  celebrates  Zion  as  Jehovah's  Bride,  or 
Revelation  describes  the  Bride  of  the  Lamb.  And  in  its 
natural  literary  interpretation  The  Song  of  Songs  is  the 
great  honeymoon  poem  of  universal  literature. 


CHAPTER    VIII 

PROPHECY   AS   A   BRANCH  OF   LITERATURE 

We  pass  to  the  important  portion  of  Holy  Scripture 
which  is  covered  by  the  general  title  of  Prophecy.  At 
the  oul.^t  a  difficulty  arises  from  a  common  misunder- 
standing as  to  the  meaning  of  the  word.  In  modern 
English  to  prophesy  is  to  predict:  and  a  large  number 
of  Bible  readers  come  to  Scriptural  prophecy  with  the 
idea  that  they  are  reading  the  literature  of  prediction. 
There  is  no  such  notion  in  the  word  as  properly  under- 
stood. The  pro-  of  prophecy  is  not  the  pro-  that  means 
'beforehand  '  (as  in  programme),  but  the  pro-  that  means 
'instead  of'  (as  in  pronoun)',  a  'prophet'  is  one  who 
speaks  in  place  of  another  —  an  interpreter.  The  bibli- 
cal sense  of  the  term  is  well  seen  in  a  passage  of  Exodus 
(vii.  i).  Moses  has  been  shrinking  from  the  task  im- 
posed on  him  by  God  on  the  ground  of  being  a  man  of 
slow  and  difficult  speech;  the  reply  is  made:  — 

See,   I   have   made    thee    [Moses]  a   god  to    Pharaoh :  and 
Aaron  thy  brother  shall  be  thy  prophet. 

As  Aaron  is  thus  a  speaker  in  place  of  Moses,  putting 
into  formal  speech  the  thoughts  of  his  leader,  so  the 
prophets  are  interpreters  for  God.  If  ever  they  are 
found  to  predict,  the  prediction  is  an  accident,  not  the 
essence  of  the  prophecy. 

To  obtain  a  fuller  conception  of  the  term  we  must  go, 

258 


PROPHECY   AS   A    BRANCH    OF    LITERATURE       259 

not  only  to  etymology,  but  to  history.  We  have  already 
seen  how  the  prophetic  function  came  into  prominence 
at  a  particular  crisis  in  the  history  of  Israel.  Origi- 
nally, Israel  was  a  theocracy,  knowing  no  government 
but  the  will  of  God,  as  interpreted  by  Moses  or  Joshua. 
In  time  it  came  to  be  governed  by  secular  monarchs:  at 
once  the  prophetic  order  established  itself  to  represent 
the  older  idea  of  the  theocracy.  Occasionally,  as  with 
Isaiah  and  Hezekiah,  it  would  happen  that  the  prophet 
and  the  king  were  on  the  same  side :  the  prophets  were 
then  religious  statesmen  —  statesmen  of  a  people  with 
whom  State  and  Church  were  one.  More  often  the 
prophets  were  in  opposition  to  the  secular  government: 
they  were  not  the  counsellors  who  guided,  but  the  agi- 
tators who  roused  to  resistance.  The  whole  activity  of 
such  prophets  constitutes  'prophecy';  hence  the  books 
of  the  prophets  are  found,  at  times  to  record  the  general 
history  of  the  period,  at  times  to  deal  with  the  prophet's 
secret  intercourse  with  God,  or  public  encounters  with 
kings.  Or  they  treasure  up  the  proverb-like  sayings  — 
technically,  'sentences' — by  which  leading  ideas  of 
these  theocratic  statesmen  were  brought  home  to  the 
common  people.  Large  parts  of  these  prophetic  books 
are  rightly  described  as  discourses.  But  even  here  we 
must  avoid  the  misleading  analogy  of  modern  sermons. 
Nothing  can  be  more  incongruous  than  to  imagine  an 
Isaiah  or  a  Jeremiah  standing  with  a  neatly  written 
manuscript  before  a  devout  and  attentive  audience.  The 
discourses  of  the  prophetic  books  represent  the  substance 
of  spoken  utterance;  very  often,  it  would  appear,  the 
spirit  of  a  whole  series  of  encounters  between  a  prophet 
and  his  people  or  king  has  been  worked  up  afresh  into 


260  BIBLICAL   POETRY    AND    PROSE 

the  form  of  written  literature,  to  make  a  single  one  of 
the  discourses  as  they  have  come  down  to  us. 

Yet  another  consideration  must  be  borne  in  mind 
before  our  conception  of  prophetic  literature  is  com- 
plete. What  has  been  said  so  far  covers  the  whole  func- 
tion of  earlier  prophets,  such  as  Elijah  and  Elisha.  But 
in  later  history  the  prophets  have  become  men  of  letters; 
their  works  not  only  represent  public  utterances,  but 
include  written  compositions  designed  for  a  reading 
public.  The  prophets  of  Israel  are  poets,  in  the  full 
sen:.-  of  the  term.  They  interpret  the  Divine  message 
in  the  form  of  songs  and  lyric  outpourings.  They  make 
contributions  to  creative  literature:  just  as  a  Milton  will 
convey  his  conception  of  the  plan  of  salvation  in  the 
form  of  imaginative  stories  —  of  a  Paradise  Lost  and  a 
Paradise  Regained  —  so  the  prophets  of  the  Bible  will-use 
visions  and  imaginative  dramas,  as  a  vehicle  in  which  they 
bring  home  to  man's  highest  faculties  the  providential 
mysteries  with  which  they  feel  themselves  inspired. 

It  will  thus  be  evident  that  prophecy  is  not  a  literary 
form,  like  epic  or  drama,  but  a  branch  of  sacred  litera- 
ture, in  which  the  most  varied  forms  mingle,  from  the 
proverbial  sentence,  or  straightforward  discourse,  to  the 
spiritual  song  or  drama.  What  binds  all  kinds  of  pro- 
phetic literature  together  into  a  unity  is  the  fact  that  the 
prophets  are  not  speaking  their  own  thoughts,  but  are 
interpreting  for  God.  The  message  is  Divine;  the  form 
in  which  the  message  is  conveyed  is  free  to  range  over 
the  whole  field  of  literary  expression. 

It  remains  to  speak  of  certain  literary  forms  which  are 
almost  peculiar  to  prophecy,  and  at  the  same  time  unfa- 


PROrHECY   AS   A    BRANCH    OF    LITERATURE       261 

miliar  to  modern  readers.  One  of  these,  the  emblem 
prophecy,  although  used  by  several  of  the  sacred  writers, 
is  yet  so  specially  characteristic  of  Ezekiel,  that  it  will 
be  reserved  until  The  Book  of  Ezekiel  can  be  treated  as 
a  whole.  Two  others  will  be  more  conveniently  dis- 
cussed in  the  present  chapter. 

The  doom  songs,  as  a  branch  of  prophecy,  correspond 
in  some  sort  to  the  satires  and  philippics  of  other  litera- 
tures. The  political  life  of  Israel  includes,  of  course, 
foreign  policy  —  the  relations  of  the  chosen  nation 
with  neighbouring  peoples,  especially  with  the  power- 
ful empires  of  Egypt  and  Babylon,  from  one  of  which 
Israel  had  emerged  as  an  independent  nation,  and  into 
the  other  of  which  it  was  to  be  absorbed  as  a  captive 
people.  The  messages  of  prophecy  extend  to  these 
foreign  nations  as  well  as  to  Israel,  but  with  a  difference. 
It  could  seldom  happen  that  a  prophet  would  have  — 
like  Jonah — -an  opportunity  of  speaking  directly  to 
some  distant  nation,  in  the  way  in  which  these  sacred 
statesmen  regularly  addressed  their  own  people.  It  is  to 
readers  and  hearers  in  Israel  that  the  doom  prophecies 
are  addressed;  and  they  take  the  form  of  denunciations 
of  external  races  or  cities  as  enemies  of  Israel  and 
Jehovah,  combined  with  realistic  pictures  of  coming 
destruction. 

As  an  example,  we  may  take  the  Doom  of  Nineveh, 
which  occupies  the  whole  Book  of  Nahum.  The 
prophecy  opens  in  the  form  of  discourse,  and  is  here 
cast  in  the  pendulum  style  that  alternates  between  ideas 
of  judgment  and  of  mercy.  We  hear  of  Jehovah  as 
great  in  power,  one  who  will  by  no  means  clear  the 
guilty;  who  hath  his  way  in  the  whirlwind  and  in  the 


262  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

storm,  and  the  clouds  are  the  dust  of  his  feet:  none  can 
stand  before  his  indignation.  Immediately  we  read  of 
the  same  Jehovah  as  good,  a  stronghold  in  the  day  of 
trouble,  who  knoweth  them  that  put  their  trust  in  him. 
Again,  Jehovah  is  presented  indignantly  dispensing 
judgment  to  his  adversaries,  so  that  affliction  shall  not 
rise  up  the  second  time.  The  alternation  extends  to 
successive  sentences. 

Though  I  have  afflicted  thee  [Israel],  I  will  afflict  thee  no 
more.  And  now  will  I  break  his  yoke  from  off  thee,  and  will 
burst  thy  bonds  in  sunder.  —  And  the  Lord  hath  given  com- 
mandment concerning  thee  \_Nineveh~]  that  no  more  of  thy 
name  be  sown. 

Suddenly  there  are  seen  upon  the  mountains  the  feet  of 
one  that  brings  good  tidings :  with  this  link  the  prophecy 
passes  from  discourse  into  realistic  vision,  and  the  over- 
throw of  Nineveh  is  being  presented. 

He  that  dasheth  in  pieces  is  come  up  before  thy  face  : 
Keep  the  munition  ;   watch  the  way. 

The  excitement  of  defence  is  vividly  pictured:  red  shields 
of  the  valiant,  chariots  flashing  with  steel,  the  terror  of 
shaken  spears,  chariots  jostling  against  one  another  in 
the  broad  ways,  with  zigzag  flamings  of  bright  axles. 
But  in  vain.  As  their  leader  proudly  remembers  his 
worthies  these  are  seen  to  stumble.  There  is  hastening 
to  man  the  walls,  and  meanwhile  the  river  has  proved  a 
gate  to  the  enemy;  the  strong  city  seeming  to  dissolve 
as  the  inhabitants  are  thus  snatched  into  captivity,  the 
handmaids  mourning  like  doves  and  tabering  upon  their 
breasts. 


PROPHECY    AS    A    BRANCH    <  )F    LITERATURE        263 

But  Nineveh  hath  been  from  of  old  like  a  pool  of  water  ; 

Vet  they  flee  away  : 
"  Stand,  stand  "  — 

But  none  looketh  back. 

Take  ye  the  spoil  of  silver, 

Take  the  spoil  of  gold  ; 
For  there  is  none  end  of  the  store, 

The  glory  of  all  pleasant  furniture. 

She  is  empty,  and  void,  and  waste : 

And  the  heart  melteth,  and  the  knees  smite  together  ; 
And  anguish  is  in  all  loins; 

And  the  faces  of  them  all  are  waxed  pale. 

As  this  elaborate  prophecy  continues  there  is  a  mo- 
mentary recurrence  to  Divine  denunciation,  and  this  is 
followed  by  a  lyric  picture  of  the  denounced  city  in  its 
sinful  pomp:  a  bloody  city,  full  of  lies  and  rapine. 

The  noise  of  the  whip,  and  the  noise  of  the  rattling  of  wheels  ; 
And  pransing  horses,  and  jumping  chariots  ; 
The  horseman  mounting,  and  the  flashing  sword,  and  the  glitter- 
ing spear  ; 

And  a  multitude  of  slain,  and  a  great  heap  of  carcases  : 
And  there  is  none  end  of  the  corpses  ; 
They  stumble  upon  their  corpses. 

But  the  indignation  of  Jehovah  sounds  forth,  and  at  once 
there  is  matter  for  the  taunt  songs  of  Nineveh's  foes.  Is 
she  better  than  No-amon,  ramparted  by  the  sea,  with 
Ethiopia  and  Egypt  for  strengtheners,  Put  and  Lubim 
as  helpers?  Vet  was  she  carried  into  captivity!  A 
similar  destruction  is  seen  for  Nineveh:  fortresses  fall- 
ing like  shaken  figs  into  the  mouth  of  the  eater;  war- 
riors turning  women;  gates  opened  to  the  foe  and  bars 
devoured  by  fire;  fastnesses,  laboriously  built  and  busily 
stored,    all   made   vain  by  sword   and   fire;    population 


264  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

numerous  as  cankerworms,  like  cankerworms  spreading 
wings  and  flying  away;  crowned  heads  and  proud  mar- 
shals, like  swarms  of  grasshoppers  in  the  chill  hedges, 
vanishing  as  the  grasshoppers  vanish  when  the  sun  is 
risen.  The  final  note  of  the  prophecy  is  the  peace  that 
is  made  by  solitude  —  the  solitude  of  utter  destruction. 

Thy  shepherds  slumber,  O  king  of  Assyria, 

Thy  worthies  are  at  rest : 
Thy  people  are  scattered  upon  the  mountains, 

And  there  is  none  to  gather  them. 

Similarly,  the  whole  Book  of  Obadiali  is  a  doom 
prophecy  directed  against  Edom.  Assyria,  Tyre,  and 
Zidon,  Philistia,  Damascus,  Moab,  Ammon,  Ethiopia, 
are  all  subjects  for  prophetic  attack.1  The  most  elabo- 
rate of  these  sacred  philippics  are  reserved  for  the 
imperial  foes,  Babylon  and  Egypt.  Isaiah  pictures - 
how,  as  Babylon  falls,  the  whole  nether  world  is  moved 
to  meet  him  :  — 

Art  thou  also  become  weak  as  we  ? 

Art  thou  become  like  unto  us  ?  .  . 
How  art  thou  fallen  from  heaven, 

0  Day  Star,  son  of  the  morning  ! 
How  art  thou  cut  down  to  the  ground, 

Which  didst  lay  low  the  nations  ! 
And  thou  saidst  in  thine  heart,  '  I  will  ascend  into  heaven, 

1  will  exalt  my  throne  above  the  stars  of  God  ; 
And  I  will  sit  upon  the  mount  of  congregation, 

In  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  north  : 
I  will  ascend  above  the  heights  of  the  clouds  ; 

I  will  be  like  the  Most  High.' 
Yet  thou  shalt  be  brought  down  to  hell, 

To  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  pit. 

1  For  a  list  of  doom  prophecies,  see  in  the  Appendix. 
-  Chapters  xiii-xiv. 


PROPHECY    AS   A   BRANCH   OF   LITERATURE        265 

With  even  greater  elaborateness  Jeremiah1  hurls  against 
Babylon  a  sevenfold  denunciation,  the  central  section 
of  which  gathers  itself  into  a  sevenfold  image  of  doom. 
The  sword  is  to  smite,  the  drought  is  upon  the  waters, 
the  destroying  wind  shall  fan,  foes  shall  fill  the  city  like 
cankerworms.  Babylon  has  been  Jehovah's  battle-axe, 
to  be  broken  in  pieces  itself  now  its  work  is  done;  the 
destroying  mountain  shall  be  a  burnt-out  volcano,  deso- 
late forever;  Babylon  is  the  threshing-floor  at  the  sea- 
son of  treading.  In  Ezckie/'\s  found  a  sevenfold  doom 
of  Egypt,1'  powerful  in  its  seven  images  and  elaborated 
details.  In  Isaiah*  by  an  almost  unique  effect,  the 
doom  of  Egypt  ends  in  a  note  of  restoration. 

In  that  day  shall  Israel  be  the  third  with  Egypt  and  with 
Assyria,  a  blessing  in  the  midst  of  the  earth  :  for  that  the  Lord 
of  hosts  hath  blessed  them,  saying,  Blessed  be  Egypt,  my 
people,  and  Assyria  the  work  of  my  hands,  and  Israel  mine 
inheritance. 

The  doom  prophecies  have  contributed  a  notable 
image  to  sacred  literature.  This  is  the  image  of  the 
watchman.4  Prophecy  seems  to  take  its  stand  on  the 
eastern  boundary  of  the  holy  land,  with  the  prophetic 
watchman  yet  further  advanced,  peering,  not  into  the 
darkness  of  the  night,  but  into  the  dimness  of  the  wil- 
derness over  which  (as  from  Babylon  and  Assyria)  hosts 
of  destruction  must  pass. 

Voice  out  of  Seir 

Watchman,  what  of  the  night  ? 
Watchman,  what  of  the  night  ? 

1  Chapters  1-li.  3  Chapter  xix. 

2  Chapters  xxix-xxxii.  4  Especially,  Isaiah  xxi-xxii. 


266  BIBLICAL   POETRY    AND    PROSE 

The  Watchman 
The  morning  cometh, 

And  also  the  night : 
If  ye  will  enquire,  enquire  ye  ; 

Come  ye  again. 

This  is  the  ordinary  formula  of  the  night  watchman  to 
convey  that  all  is  well.  But  the  response  is  different 
when  the  time  of  Babylon's  doom  has  arrived.  At  first 
through  the  prophetic  night  nothing  but  voices  are  heard, 
striking  terror  and  raising  mystic  anticipations. 

"  Go  up,  O  Elam  ; 
Besiege,  O  Media 
All  the  sighing  thereof  will  I  make  to  cease." 

The  hearer  pants  with  terror,  dismay  dims  hearing  and 
vision.  "The  twilight  that  I  desired  hath  been  turned 
into  trembling  unto  me":  in  other  words,  the  day  [of 
judgment]  so  much  longed  for  has  come,  and  is  too 
terrible  to  contemplate. 

"  They  prepare  the  table, 

They  spread  the  carpets, 

They  eat,  they  drink  ; 
Rise  up,  ye  princes,  anoint  the  shield." 

It  is  again  the  Divine  voice  heard  cheering  on  the 
destroyers  to  their  task.     At  last  sight  is  added  to  sound. 

The  Watchman 
O  Lord,  I  stand  continually  upon  the  watch-tower  in  the 
day-time, 
And  am  set  in  my  ward  whole  nights  : 
And,  behold,  here  cometh  a  troop  of  men, 
Horsemen  in  pairs. 

The  Divine  voice  interprets  that  Babylon  is  fallen,  the 
graven  images  of  her  gods  broken  to  the  ground. 


PROPHECY    AS    A    BRANCH    OF    LITERATURE       267 

The  other  special  form  of  prophetic  literature  which 
has  yet  to  be  described  is  one  for  which  there  is  no 
generally  accepted  name;  it  will  here  be  called  the 
'rhapsody.'  In  modern  art  perhaps  the  nearest  approach 
to  it  is  the  oratorio,  or  sacred  cantata.  The  general 
effect  is  that  the  workings  of  Divine  providence  are 
brought  home  to  our  minds  in  the  form  of  dramatic 
movement.  But  it  is  spiritual  drama.  The  stage  com- 
prehends all  space;  the  changing  scenery  is  conveyed 
by  vision  or  description.  The  personages  of  such  a 
drama  may  include  God  himself;  the  Divine  address  to 
any  personage  or  people  makes  these  at  once  a  part  of 
the  scene;  vague  voices  and  cries  help  to  carry  on  the 
dialogue,  or  the  prophet  himself  may  be  one  of  the 
speakers  in  the  vision  which  he  is  seeing.  Like 
the  chorales  in  Bach's  oratorios,  lyric  outbursts  at 
intervals  comment  upon  the  action.  All  forms  of  lit- 
erature, even  narrative  description,  may  be  used  to 
carry  on  what  nevertheless,  as  a  whole,  is  felt  to  be 
drama. 

Perhaps  the  simplest  example  is  the  Rhapsody  of  the 
Chaldeans,  which  occupies  the  whole  Book  of  Habakkuk. 
The  first  of  its  three  acts,  or  visions,  is  dialogue  between 
God  and  the  Prophet.  The  Prophet  complains  of  vio- 
lence in  the  world  going  unpunished,  how  the  law  is 
slacked,  and  judgment  perverted.  This  is  the  answer 
that  comes :  — 

God.  —  Behold  ye  among  the  nations,  and  regard,  and  won- 
der marvellously :  for  I  work  a  work  in  your  clays,  which  ye 
will  not  believe  though  it  be  told  you.  Eor,  lo,  I  raise  up  the 
Chaldeans,  that  bitter  and  hasty  nation ;  which  march  through 
the  breadth  of  the  earth,  to  possess  dwelling  places  that  are  not 


268  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

theirs.  They  are  terrible  and  dreadful :  their  judgement  and 
their  dignity  proceed  from  themselves.  Their  horses  also  are 
swifter  than  leopards,  and  are  more  fierce  than  the  evening 
wolves ;  and  their  horsemen  bear  themselves  proudly  :  yea, 
their  horsemen  come  from  far  ;  they  fly  as  an  eagle  that  hasteth 
to  devour.  They  come  all  of  them  for  violence  ;  their  faces 
are  set  eagerly  as  the  east  wind  :  and  they  gather  captives  as 
the  sand.  Yea,  he  scoffeth  at  kings,  and  princes  are  a  derision 
unto  him:  he  derideth  every  strong  hold  ;  for  he  heapeth  up 
dust,  and  taketh  it.  Then  shall  he  sweep  by  as  a  wind,  and 
shall  pass  over,  and  be  guilty;    even  he  whose  might  is  his  god. 

This  brilliant  description  seems  strange  in  the  mouth  of 
Deity:  it  reads  like  an  exaltation  of  godless  might  over 
right.  It  is  just  this  feeling  that  the  Prophet  proceeds 
to  express. 

Art  thou  not  from  everlasting,  O  Lord  my  God,  mine  Holy 
One  ?  thou  diest  not.  O  Lord,  thou  hast  ordained  him  for 
judgement ;  and  thou,  O  Rock,  hast  established  him  for  correc- 
tion. Thou  that  art  of  purer  eyes  than  to  behold  evil,  and  that 
canst  not  look  on  perverseness,  wherefore  lookest  thou  upon 
them  that  deal  treacherously,  and  holdest  thy  peace  when  the 
wicked  swalloweth  up  the  man  that  is  more  righteous  than  he  ? 

A  perplexity  of  Divine  providence  has  thus  been  fully 
opened :  how  can  a  righteous  God  use  as  his  instrument 
of  judgment  a  power  more  evil  than  the  evil  which  is 
judged  and  destroyed? 

The  solution  of  this  mystery  makes  the  second  act. 
The  Divine  answer  is  hidden  under  one  of  the  powerful 
images  of  prophecy,  which  it  is  so  easy  to  miss.  The 
image  is  that  of  intoxication:  the  Chaldean's  soul  is 
puffed  up,  he  cannot  go  straight.  All  the  haughty  march 
of  this  prosperity-intoxicated  empire  is  no  more  than 
the  drunkard's  reeling  that  goes   before  his  fall.       At 


PROPHECY    AS   A    BRANCH   OF    LITERATURE       269 

once  is  heard  the  taunt-song  of  Chaldea's  victims, 
rejoicing  in  the  overthrow  of  their  oppressor.  Chal- 
dea's aggrandisement  has  been  a  living  upon  borrowed 
money:  they  are  at  hand  who  shall  exact  usury.  The 
tyrant  has  been  building  high:  but  he  has  built  his  own 
shame  into  the  structure,  and  now  it  is  finished  the  stone 
cries  shame  out  of  the  wall,  and  the  beam  out  of  the 
timber  answers  it.  The  Chaldean  has  trusted  to  idols 
of  gold  and  silver:  but  Jehovah  is  the  teacher  of  the 
nations,  let  all  the  earth  sit  in  silence  at  his  feet.  Thus, 
the  prophetic  revelation  is  that  Chaldean  godlessness  is 
but  allowed  to  do  the  righteous  work  of  Jehovah; 
doomed  to  perish,  when  the  work  is  done,  with  a  ruin 
vaster  than  it  has  inflicted. 

But  so  far  the  judgment  on  the  Chaldean  oppressor  is 
only  foreseen  in  the  future:  the  third  act  of  the  rhap- 
sody makes  judgment  a  present  reality.  It  is  a  magnifi- 
cent ode.  In  the  prelude,  and  again  in  the  postlude, 
we  have  the  feelings  of  the  prophetic  watchman.  The 
body  of  the  ode  realises  all  nature  in  convulsion.  The 
day  of  judgment  rises  in  the  east:  flashing  rays  of  dawn 
mark  the  fingers  of  the  avenging  hand.  As  the  day 
gathers  strength,  pestilence,  fiery  bolts,  earthquake  are 
ushering  heralds;  mountains  flee,  nations  to  the  confines 
of  civilisation  are  in  affliction,  the  very  sun  and  moon 
stand  still  in  their  habitations,  and  the  deep  utters  voice 
and  lifts  up  hands  on  high. 

Is  the  Lord  displeased  against  the  rivers  ? 
Is  thine  anger  against  the  rivers,  or  thy  wrath  against  the 
sea  ?  .  .  . 

Thou  art  come  for  the  salvation  of  thy  people, 
For  the  salvation  of  thine  anointed. 


270  BIBLICAL    POETRY    AND    PROSE 

The  day  of  doom  sets  over  the  western  sea,  with  surging 
of  mighty  waters.  The  Prophet  is  left  trembling  with 
the  terrors  of  the  very  visitation  for  which  he  had 
prayed ;  but  it  is  terror  which  passes  into  surer  confidence. 

For  though  the  fig  tree  shall  not  blossom, 
Neither  shall  fruit  be  in  the  vines  ; 
The  labour  of  the  olive  shall  fail, 
And  the  fields  shall  yield  no  meat  ; 
The  flock  shall  be  cut  off  from  the  fold, 
And  there  shall  be  no  herd  in  the  stalls : 
Yet  I  will  rejoice  in  the  Lord, 
I  will  joy  in  the  God  of  my  salvation. 

A  perplexing  question  of  Divine  providence  has  been 
opened  in  dialogue,  solved  with  the  aid  of  lyric  song, 
and  the  solution  has  been  carried  forward  in  the  full 
elaboration  of  an  ode.  This  union  of  varied  literary 
forms  in  a  single  dramatic  movement  makes  a  typical 
example  of  the  rhapsody. 

The  Book  of  Joel  gives  us  a  more  extended  example 
—  the  Rhapsody  of  the  Locust  Plague.  Here,  again, 
the  theme  is  the  Divine  judgments,  but  in  a  different 
sense:  we  have  first  a  judgment  upon  Israe.l  that  serves 
to  reform  and  purify,  then  judgment  between  Israel  and 
the  nations  that  have  oppressed  her.  The  movement 
falls  into  seven  successive  acts,  or  visions.  The  first 
presents  the  land  of  Israel  mourning  in  desolation:  old 
men,  revellers,  priests,  husbandmen,  are  in  their  turn 
heard  bewailing  the  ravaged  land,  and  draw  together  into 
a  general  assembly  of  the  whole  people,  crying  that  the 
Day  of  the  Lord  is  at  hand.  With  the  second  vision 
the  panic  intensifies :  the  day  of  doom  has  actually 
broken  in  clouds  and  darkness.     Under  the  concealed 


PROPHF.CY   AS   A   BRANCH    OF   LITERATURE       271 

image  of  a  locust  plague,  mystic  foes  are  presented  as 
approaching:  an  irresistible  march  in  which,  mysteri- 
ously, no  ranks  are  broken,  and  none  swerves  out  of  his 
place.  The  advancing  hosts  are  upon  the  city:  then, 
with  the  third  stage  of  the  movement,  comes  a  surprise, 
and  a  voice  of  mercy. 

The  Lord.  —  Yet  even  now  turn  ye  unto  me  with  all  your 
heart,  and  with  fasting,  and  with  weeping,  and  with  mourning  : 
and  rend  your  heart,  and  not  your  garments,  and  turn  unto  the 
Lord  your  God  :  for  he  is  gracious  and  full  of  compassion, 
slow  to  anger,  and  plenteous  in  mercy,  and  repenteth  him  of 
the  evil. 

The  People.  —  Who  knoweth  whether  he  will  not  turn  and 
repent,  and  leave  a  blessing  behind  him,  even  a  meal  offering 
and  a  drink  offering  unto  the  Lord  your  God  ? 

This  first  stirring  of  repentance  grows  into  a  solemn 
assembly  of  the  whole  people,  from  old  men  to  children, 
the  bridegroom  going  forth  out  of  his  chamber  and  the 
bride  out  of  her  closet,  all  joining  in  a  prayer  for  mercy. 
Accordingly,  with  the  fourth  act  it  is  said :  — 

Then  was  the  Lord  jealous  for  his  land,  and  had  pity  on  his 
people. 

As  the  promises  of  the  Lord  are  heard,  the  land  seems 
to  recover  from  its  desolation:  the  northern  army  is 
driven  away,  the  pastures  of  the  wilderness  spring 
beneath  the  former  and  the  latter  rain,  the  floors  are 
full  of  wheat,  and  the  fats  overflow  with  wine  and  oil. 
We  pass  to  a  further  stage :  for  Israel  a  spiritual  out- 
pouring upon  all,  until  the  sons  and  daughters  prophesy, 
young  men  see  visions,  and  old  men  dream  dreams;  for 
the  enemies  of  Israel  a  heralding  of  doom  in  darkened 
sun  and  bloodstained  moon,  with  wonders  in  heaven  and 


272  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

earth.  The  sixth  stage  is  an  advance  to  the  Valley  of 
the  Lord's  Decision:  the  voice  of  Jehovah  is  heard 
cheering  his  hosts  to  the  harvest  that  is  already  ripe. 
There  is  a  vision  of  multitudes  and  multitudes  in  the 
Valley  of  Decision :  then  all  resolves  into  darkness  and 
roaring,  until  the  seventh  and  final  vision  displays  a 
holy  region  and  a  scene  of  eternal  peace,  mountains 
dropping  sweet  wine,  and  hills  flowing  with  milk. 

This  rhapsody  has  illustrated  a  form  of  poetic  move- 
ment which  is  important  for  its  bearing  upon  interpre- 
tation. This  may  be  compared  to  the  figure  of  an  arch : 
the  successive  stages  of  the  movement  advance  to  a  crisis 
which  is  in  the  centre  of  the  poem,  not  at  the  close;  then 
they  reverse  their  direction,  so  that  each  of  the  last  three 
stages  corresponds  to  one  of  the  first  three.  The  follow- 
ing figure  will  convey  the  idea:  — 

4.    Relief  and  Restoration, 
ii.  18-27. 
3.    At    the    last    moment    5.    Afterward :  Israel  spirit- 
Repentance,  ualised  —  the    Nations 
ii.  12-17.                              summoned  to  judgment, 

ii.  28-iii.  8. 

2.    Judgment  visibly  6.    Advance  to  the  Valley 

Advancing:  Crisis,  of  Decision  :  Crisis, 

ii.  1— 1 1.  iii.  9-16. 

1.   The  Land  of  Israel  7.   The  Holy  Mountain  and 

desolate  and  mourning,  Eternal  Peace, 

i.  iii.  17-21. 

It  thus  appears  that  the  central  and  determining  section 
of  the  whole  movement  is  the  fourth,  where  the  idea  of 
relief  and  restoration  is  introduced.  On  the  two  sides  of 
this  we    have  repentance  and,   to  balance  it,  a  higher 


PROPHECY    AS   A    BRANCH   OF    LITERATURE       273 

spiritualisation.  The  second  stage  is  the  crisis  of 
advance  in  the  judgment  on  Israel;  the  corresponding 
sixth  section  is  the  advance  to  a  crisis  in  the  judgment 
on  the  nations.  The  opening  picture  of  desolation  is 
reversed  in  the  final  scene  of  holiness  and  peace. 

The  term  'rhapsody  '  will  cover  a  great  variety  of  lit- 
erary compositions.  Thus,  what  is  otherwise  a  simple 
prophetic  discourse  may  be  diversified  by  occasional 
realistic  passages.  Zephaniah  is  a  fine  example.  At 
the  outset  the  Lord  is  uttering  words  of  denunciation :  — 

I  will  utterly  consume  all  things  from  off  the  face  of  the 
ground,  saith  the  Lord.  I  will  consume  man  and  beast ;  I 
will  consume  the  fowls  of  the  heaven,  and  the  fishes  of  the  sea, 
and  the  stumbling-blocks  with  the  wicked  ;  and  I  will  cut  off 
man  from  off  the  face  of  the  ground,  saith  the  Lord. 

At  once  lyric  song  is  heard  :  — 

Hold  thy  peace  at  the  presence  of  the  Lord  God  : 

For  the  Day  of  the  Lord  is  at  hand  : 
For  the  Lord  hath  prepared  a  sacrifice, 

He  hath  sanctified  his  guests  ! 

The  Divine  threatenings  continue:  He  will  search  Jeru- 
salem with  candles,  and  will  punish  the  men  that  are 
settled  on  their  lees,  that  say  in  their  heart,  The  Lord 
will  not  do  good,  neither  will  he  do  evil.  Again  the 
lyrics  interrupt:  — 

The  great  Day  of  the  Lord  is  near : 

It  is  near  and  hasteth  greatly  ! 
Even  the  voice  of  the  Day  of  the  Lord  ; 

The  mighty  man  crieth  there  bitterly. 

That  Day  is  a  day  of  wrath, 

A  day  of  trouble  and  distress, 
A  day  of  wasteness  and  desolation, 

A  day  of  darkness  and  gloominess, 


274  BIBLICAL   POETRY    AND    PROSE 

A  day  of  clouds  and  thick  darkness, 

A  day  of  the  trumpet  and  alarm, 
Against  the  fenced  cities, 

And  against  the  high  battlements. 

Throughout  the  whole  Book  of  Zephaniah  this  alternation 
is  kept  up,  between  continuous  discourse  of  Divine 
judgment,  and  outbursts  of  lyrics  which  interrupt,  in 
order  to  celebrate  and  comment  upon  what  the  denun- 
ciatory discourse  has  brought  forward.1 

At  the  furthest  remove  from  such  rhapsodic  discourse 
stands  what  is  the  most  elaborate  and  complex  illustra- 
tion of  this  kind  of  literature  —  the  Rhapsody  of  Zion 
Redeemed,  covering  the  last  twenty-six  chapters  of  our 
Book  of  Isaiah}  Not  only  in  its  literary  form,  but  also 
in  its  range  of  thought  this  work  is  nothing  less  than 
stupendous.  Its  starting-point  is  a  definite  historic 
event  —  the  deliverance  of  Israel  from  Babylonish  cap- 
tivity by  the  conquering  career  of  Cyrus :  from  this  the 
field  of  view  widens  to  present  the  whole  scheme  of 
Divine  providence,  in  its  dealings  with  the  chosen 
nation,  and  through  this  chosen  nation  with  all  the 
world. 

There  is  a  prelude  3  which  —  precisely  like  the  prelude 
of  a  modern  musical  drama  —  lyrically  foreshadows  what 
is  to  be  worked  out  in  detail  by  the  seven  visions  that 
follow.  The  keynote  is  a  word  of  comfort  from  the 
mouth  of  Jehovah. 

1  This  alternation  of  Divine  monologue  and  interrupting  lyrics  may 
be  called  doom  form,  from  its  frequent  use  in  prophecies  of  that  type. 

2  It  is  presented  in  its  full  literary  structure  in  the  Isaiah  volume  of 
The  Modern  Reader 's  Bible.  In  the  ordinary  version  the  dialogue  and 
other  features  of  literary  form  are  difficult  to  catch. 

8  Chapter  xl.  i-ii. 


PROPHECY    AS    A    BRAxNCH    OF    LITERATURE        275 

Comfort  ye,  comfort  ye  my  people,  saith  your  God.  Speak 
ye  comfortably  to  Jerusalem,  and  cry  unto  her,  that  her  warfare 
is  accomplished,  that  her  iniquity  is  pardoned. 

In  response,  voices  are  heard  to  carry  the  glad  tidings 
across  the  desert  to  Jerusalem  in  her  humiliation. 

A    Voice  of  One   Crying 

Prepare  ye  in  the  wilderness  the  way  of  the  Lord, 

Make  straight  in  the  desert  a  high  way  for  our  God. 
Every  valley  shall  be  exalted, 

And  every  mountain  and  hill  shall  be  made  low; 
And  the  crooked  shall  be  made  straight, 

And  the  rough  places  plain  : 
And  the  glory  of  the  Lord  shall  be  revealed, 

And  all  flesh  shall  see  it  together. 

This  part  of  the  prelude  is  in  touch  with  the  first  vision, 
and  its  climax  in  the  return  of  the  exiles  across  the 
desert  to  their  home.  But  the  voice  of  glad  tidings 
encounters  a  voice  of  despair,  and  we  have  an  anticipa- 
tion of  the  dialogue  with  Desponding  Zion  in  the  second 

vision. 

Voice  of  the  ladings 

Cry! 

A  Despairing  Voice 

What  shall  I  cry? 
All  flesh  is  grass, 
And  all  the  goodliness  thereof  is  as  the  flower  of  the  field  : 

The  grass  withereth, 

The  flower  fadeth, 

Because  the  breath  of  the  Lord  bloweth  upon  it : 
Surely  the  people  is  grass ! 

Voice  of  the  Tidings 

The  grass  withereth, 
The  flower  fadeth  : 
But  the  word  of  our  God  shall  stand  for  ever. 


276  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND   PROSE 

A  voice  is  heard  now  further  on  its  way  to  Jerusalem, 
and  we  are  carried  to  the  point  where,  in  the  fourth 
vision,  the  messengers  will  be  seen  on  the  mountains. 

0  thou  that  tellest  good  tidings  to  Zion, 

Get  thee  up  into  the  high  mountain; 
O  thou  that  tellest  good  tidings  to  Jerusalem, 

Lift  up  thy  voice  with  strength; 
Lift  it  up,  be  not  afraid; 

Say  unto  the  cities  of  Judah,  Behold  your  God  ! 

Yet  another  voice  is  heard  in  this  prelude;  and  it  seems 
to  epitomise  the  alternation  between  judgment  and  saL 
vation  with  which  the  whole  rhapsody  is  to  conclude. 

Behold,  the  Lord  God  will  come  as  a  mighty  one, 
And  his  arm  shall  rule  for  him  : 
Behold  his  reward  is  with  him, 
And  his  recompence  before  him. 

He  shall  feed  his  flock  like  a  shepherd, 

He  shall  gather  the  lambs  in  his  arm, 

And  carry  them  in  his  bosom, 

And  shall  gently  lead  those  that  give  suck. 

The  dramatic  movement  itself  opens  with  the  first  of 
the  seven  visions,  which  has  for  its  theme  Jehovah's 
Servant  delivered  from  Bondage.  This  has  already  been 
discussed,  by  way  of  epilogue  to  the  history  of  Israel.1 
The  conception  is  of  a  whole  world  summoned  before 
the  bar  of  Jehovah;  the  peoples  come  from  the  furthest 
isles,  the  worshippers  of  idols  in  panic,  Israel  supported 
by  journeying  mercies  of  its  God.  Jehovah  makes 
challenge  to  the  idol  peoples  to  put  a  meaning  on  the 
course  of  events,  that  shall  connect  the  end  with  the 
beginning.      When   the   idols  are   dumb  and   helpless, 

1  Above,  pages  82-8.     It  covers  Isaiah  xl.  12-xlviii. 


PROPHECY    AS   A    BRANCH    <)V   LITERATURE       277 

Jehovah's  own  interpretation  of  history  is  made  known: 
how  that  Israel  is  his  Servant,  and  his  service  is  to  bring 
light  to  the  Gentiles;  how  that  Israel  has  been  blind  to 
his  mission,  and  lias  fallen,  for  his  sins,  into  the  prison 
houses  of  the  nations;  how  that  the  time  of  redemption 
has  come,  and  Cyrus  is  Jehovah's  instrument,  a  con- 
quered world  being  the  price  paid  for  the  deliverance  of 
the  Lord's  people;  how  that  Israel  comes  forth  from  the 
imprisoning  peoples,  not  only  free,  but  awakened  to  his 
mission  —  a  blind  people  that  hath  eyes,  a  deaf  people 
that  hath  ears.  All  this  is  brought  out  in  the  speeches 
of  Jehovah,  as  alternately  he  addresses  his  Servant  Israel 
and  the  assembled  nations;  at  times  outbursts  of  lyric 
verse  serve  as  interrupting  Aniens;  or  the  taunt-song  is 
heard  over  cruel  Babylon  deprived  of  her  prey;  or, 
finally,  there  is  the  celebration  of  the  people  of  the  Lord 
delivered  and  led  across  the  desert,  where  waters  flow 
from  the  rock  to  quench  their  thirst. 

The  second  vision1  presents  the  Servant  of  Jehovah 
awakened  to  his  mission  —  the  salvation  not  of  the 
tribes  of  Israel  only,  but  also  of  the  Gentiles.  He 
exercises  his  double  ministry.  Glorious  words  are 
spoken  of  the  exiles  brought  in  safety  over  the  desert. 
In  dialogue  with  Desponding  Zion  the  Servant  of  Jeho- 
vah declares  how  a  woman  may  forget  her  sucking 
child,  but  Zion  cannot  be  forgotten  by  Jehovah.  The 
fearers  of  Jehovah  among  the  nations  are  encouraged. 
But  at  this  point  there  seems  a  change  in  the  conception 
of  this  'Servant  of  Jehovah.'  Before  this  the  term  has 
been  applied  unmistakably  to  the  nation  of  Israel.     Now 

1  Isaiah  xlix-1. 


278  BIBLICAL    POETRY   AND   PROSE 

nationality  seems  to  gather  itself  into  a  personality, 
that  not  only  can  succour  others,  but  also  suffer  martyr- 
dom itself :  — 

I  gave  my  back  to  the  smiters,  and  my  cheeks  to  them  that 
plucked  off  the  hair :  I  hid  not  my  face  from  shame  and 
spitting. 

The  chosen  people  appear  under  two  different  names 
in  this  drama:  the  name  'Israel '  seems  to  describe  the 
presence  of  the  people,  diffused  (it  may  be)  over  the 
world;  'Zion,'  on  the  other  hand,  is  the  name  for 
the  organised  nation,  with  the  holy  land  as  its  base. 
As  the  second  vision  gave  us  Jehovah's  Servant  awak- 
ened, so  the  third  ]  is  devoted  to  the  Awakening  of  Zion. 
Jehovah  makes  appeal  to  his  people  from  their  glorious 
past,  and  from  the  future  of  glory  he  is  reserving  for 
them.  But  from  Zion  there  is  no  response.  The 
Celestial  Chorus  seems  to  encourage  Jehovah,  recalling 
old  deliverances  and  a  Red  Sea  dried  up.  Again  Jeho- 
vah makes  appeal;  again  there  is  silence.  The  Celes- 
tial Chorus  addresses  Zion,  crying  to  awake,  and  stand 
up  from  her  fall  and  staggering.  In  vain.  Yet  again 
the  Celestial  Chorus  makes  appeal :  — 

Awake,  awake,  put  on  thy  strength,  O  Zion ; 

Put  on  thy  beautiful  garments,  O  Jerusalem,  the  holy  city. 

At  last  the  awakening  begins.  Beautiful  upon  the 
mountains  are  seen  the  feet  of  the  messengers.  The 
Watchmen  of  Jerusalem  have  caught  the  sight,  and  sing 
together  the  good  tidings.  Now  the  waste  places  of 
Jerusalem  sing  together,  for  they  have  caught  Jehovah's 
word  of  comfort.     Now  the  arm  of  the  Lord  is  made 

1  Isaiah  li-lii.  12. 


PROPHBY    AS   A    BRANCH    OF    LITERATURE       279 

bare,  and  all  the  ends  of  the  earth  see  the  salvation  of 
Zion. 

We  have  reached  the  fourth  and  central  section  '  of 
the  rhapsody,  and  it  is  full  of  the  exaltation  of  Jehovah's 
Servant :  to  the  astonishment  of  the  nations  that  had 
despised  his  marred  visage  and  form  unlike  the  sons  of 
men.  But  who  is  the  Servant  of  Jehovah  thus  exalted? 
We  have  seen  that  originally  the  term  denotes  the  nation 
of  Israel:  that  at  the  close  of  the  second  vision  the 
nation  seemed  to  change  into  a  suffering  personality. 
With  the  stage  of  exaltation  the  Servant  of  Jehovah 
appears  a  mystic  personality,  whose  sufferings  are  vicari- 
ous. The  rest  of  this  fourth  vision  is  spoken  by  the 
Chorus  of  Nations,  whose  astonishment  serves  to  present 
the  sufferings  of  Jehovah's  Servant  as  the  redemption  of 
the  peoples. 

Surely  he  hath  borne  our  griefs, 
And  carried  our  sorrows : 

Yet  we  did  esteem  him  stricken, 

Smitten  of  God,  and  afflicted. 

But  he  was  wounded  for  our  transgressions, 
He  was  bruised  for  our  iniquities : 

The  chastisement  of  our  peace  was  upon  him; 

And  with  his  stripes  we  are  healed. 

From  the  Servant  of  Jehovah  awakened  we  passed  to 
the  awakening  of  Zion;  from  the  Servant  of  Jehovah 
exalted  we  pass  naturally,  in  the  fifth  vision,2  to  Zion 
Exalted.     We  hear  the  song  of   Zion  as  the   Bride  of 

Jehovah : — 

For  thy  Maker  is  thine  husband; 
The  Lord  of  hosts  is  his  name. 

1  Isaiah  lii.  13-liii.  -  Isaiah  liv-lv. 


280  BIBLICAL    POETRY   AND   PROSE 

Another  song  celebrates  Zion  as  the  city  of  beauty  and 
peace,  once  afflicted  and  tempest-tossed.  The  third 
presents  Zion  as  witness  to  the  nations;  by  appointment 
of  Jehovah  she  summons  them  to  forsake  evil  and  enter 
into  an  everlasting  covenant,  even  the  sure  mercies  of 
David.  The  vision  ends  with  a  procession  of  redeemed 
nations  amid  a  world  transformed  into  rejoicing. 

We  have  reached  the  point  where  the  rhapsody 
becomes  most  difficult  of  interpretation,  and  its  trend 
of  thought  furthest  removed  from  the  spirit  of  modern 
literature.  The  acts  of  a  modern  drama  are  necessarily 
successive  in  time.  In  a  spiritual  drama,  where  repre- 
sentation to  the  eye  is  impossible,  the  connection  of 
parts  may  be  logical,  and  not  temporal.  The  five  visions 
so  far  reviewed  make  a  unity,  in  which  Divine  provi- 
dence has  been  represented  in  its  historical  aspect :  the 
choice  of  a  nation  through  which  all  other  nations  are 
to  be  blessed;  the  fall  of  this  Israel  from  its  mission  into 
captivity;  the  deliverance  of  Israel  from  bondage;  its 
awakening;  its  exaltation;  finally,  the  redemption  of 
all  peoples  through  the  vicarious  sufferings  of  the  mys- 
tic Servant  of  Jehovah.  From  this  historical  aspect  of 
providence  we  now  pass  to  the  ideas  of  redemption  and 
judgment  in  the  abstract,  and  the  term  'Servant  of  Jeho- 
vah '  disappears.  Israel  is  still  the  subject  of  what  is 
presented.  But  the  introduction1  to  the  sixth  vision 
makes  it  clear  that  we  are  to  understand  an  Israel  not 
limited  by  nation  or  race :  the  stranger  and  outcasts  are 
gathered  in  to  the  people  who  are  to  see  the  righteous- 
ness of  God;  his  house  is  a  house  of  prayer  for  all 
nations. 

1  Chapter  lvi.  1-8. 


PROPHECY   AS  A    BRANCH   OF   LITERATURE       281 

Each  of  the  two  visions  presents  the  whole  work  of 
providence,  but  under  different  aspects:  and  the  sixth 
vision1  is  a  drama  of  redemption.  It  opens  with  a 
picture  of  moral  chaos,  a  vineyard  trodden  by  all  beasts 
of  the  field,  guarded  by  dumb  dogs  that  love  to  slumber; 
or,  if  God  is  served,  it  is  by  formalists,  who  wonder 
that  their  service  brings  no  blessing.  In  this  chaos  the 
spirit  of  prophecy  is  seen  at  work:  denouncing  corrup- 
tion, proclaiming  mercy,  raising  the  formalists  to  a 
more  spiritual  idea  of  worship. 

Is  such  the  fast  that  I  have  chosen?  the  day  for  a  man  to 
afflict  his  soul?  Is  it  to  bow  down  his  head  as  a  rush,  and  to 
spread  sackcloth  and  ashes  under  him?  ...  Is  not  this  the 
fast  that  I  have  chosen :  to  loose  the  bonds  of  wickedness,  to 
undo  the  bands  of  the  yoke,  and  to  let  the  oppressed  go  free? 

Gradually  Israel  rouses  to  repentance :  and  the  turning- 
point  is  reached  as  Jehovah  looks,  and  wonders  that 
there  is  no  intercessor:  therefore  his  own  arm  brings 
salvation.  As  a  rushing  river  which  the  breath  of  the 
Lord  driveth,  so  a  Redeemer  comes  to  Zion.  At  once 
the  rhapsody  breaks  into  the  song  of  Zion  Redeemed. 

Arise,  shine;   for  thy  light  is  come, 

And  the  glory  of  the  Lord  is  risen  upon  thee. 

There  is  lyric  picturing  of  nations  coming  to  share  this 
light;  of  exiles  hastening  home  by  land  and  sea;  through 
the  opened  gates  the  wealth  of  nations  is  borne  to  beau- 
tify the  sanctuary;  Zion's  walls  are  salvation,  her  gates 
praise;  her  sun  shall  go  down  no  more.  The  song  sub- 
sides into  a  soliloquy  of  the  Redeemer  :  — 

1  Isaiah  Ivi-lxii. 


282  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

The  spirit  of  the  Lord  God  is  upon  me;  because  the  Lord 
hath  anointed  me  to  preach  good  tidings  unto  the  meek; 
he  hath  sent  me  to  bind  up  the  brokenhearted,  to  proclaim 
liberty  to  the  captives,  and  the  opening  of  the  prison  to  them 
that  are  bound. 

The  Redeemer  is  heard  in  dialogue  with  Zion,  now  no 
longer  despondent;  he  cries  to  the  Watchmen,  as  the 
Lord's  remembrancers,  to  give  their  God  no  rest  till  he 
make  Jerusalem  a  praise  in  the  earth.  The  vision  con- 
cludes with  the  song  of  the  Watchmen,  making  straight 
the  path  to  Zion  for  the  redeemed  hastening  from  the 
ends  of  the  earth. 

The  seventh  vision1  passes  to  the  idea  of  judgment, 
the  separation  between  good  and  evil.  Once  more  the 
image  of  the  prophetic  watchman  is  employed,  to  intro- 
duce a  vision  of  judgment. 

Chorus  of  Watchmen 
Who  is  this  that  cometh  from  Edom, 

With  crimsoned  garments  from  Bozrali  ? 

This  that  is  glorious  in  his  apparel, 
Marching  in  the  greatness  of  his  strength? 

He  who   Cometh 

I  that  speak  in  righteousness, 
Mighty  to  save. 

Chorus  of  Watchmen 

Wherefore  art  thou  red 

In  thine  apparel, 

And  thy  garments 
Like  him  that  treadeth  in  the  winefat? 

1  From  Chapter  lxiii. 


PROPHECY    AS   A    BRANCH    OF    LITERATURE       283 

He  who   ( 'on wilt 
I  have  trodden  the  winepress  alone; 
And  of  the  peoples  there  was  no  rn^n  with  me  : 

Yea,  I  trod  them  in  mine  anger, 

And  trampled  them  in  my  fury; 

And  their  lifeblood  is  sprinkled  upon  my  garments, 

And  I  have  stained  all  my  raiment. 

This  is  no  more  than  the  foreshadowing:  for  the  actual 
judgment  preparation  is  made  by  repentance.  The 
whole  history  of  God's  gracious  dealings  with  Israel, 
and  Israel's  unfaithfulness  and  fall,  is  gathered  into  one 
survey,  with  passionate  prayer  that  God  would  rend  the 
heavens,  that  the  mountains  might  flow  down  at  his 
presence!  At  last  Jehovah  descends  in  judgment :  the 
last  strain  of  the  rhapsody  is  the  pendulum-like  alterna- 
tion between  judgment  and  salvation.  The  rebellious 
find  their  iniquities  recompensed  into  their  own  bosom  : 
a  seed  out  of  Jacob  shall  inherit  the  blessed  mountains. 
They  that  prepare  a  table  for  Fortune,  and  pour  wine  to 
Destiny,  shall  find  themselves  destined  to  the  fortune  of 
the  sword;  all  the  while  in  a  new  heaven  and  a  new 
earth  Jerusalem  shall  forget  her  troubles.  There  are 
confused  cries  of  tumult  from  the  city,  Jehovah  recom- 
pensing his  foes;  Zion  cannot  understand  her  deliver- 
ance, for  before  she  hath  travailed  she  hath  brought 
forth.  All  nations  and  tongues  shall  gather  to  the  feasts 
upon  the  holy  mountain  of  Jerusalem;  a  land  encom- 
passed with  eternal  purifying  forces  —  the  worm  that 
dieth  not,  and  the  fire  that  is  not  quenched. 

In  the  literature  of  the  whole  world  there  is  nothing 
which  can  be  paralleled  with  this  rhapsody  of  Zion 
Redeemed.     Its  foundation  thought  is  a  philosophy  of 


284  BIBLICAL   POETRY    AND    PROSE 

history,  the  events  of  all  time  becoming  one  in  the  light 
of  a  Divine  purpose.  Centuries  before  the  most  en- 
lightened minds  could  grasp  it,  the  rhapsody  presents 
the  idea  of  spiritual  conquest:  in  place  of  empire 
founded  on  force,  it  holds  up  to  its  hero  nation  the 
mission  of  bringing  light  to  the  Gentiles.  It  enthrones 
the  supreme  moral  conception  of  redemption,  and  sur- 
rounds this  with  attractive  images.  It  offers  the  stimu- 
lating ideal  of  a  golden  age  in  the  future  and  not  in  the 
past;  yet  for  attaining  such  ideal  it  recognises  as  an 
essential  condition  the  stern  judgment  that  forever 
separates  evil  from  good.  And  these  colossally  great 
conceptions  are  not  shadowed  forth  in  philosophical 
speculation,  they  are  made  alive  with  dramatic  setting 
and  movement:  but  it  is  a  drama  that  is  enacted  in  the 
region  of  the  spiritual,  with  God  for  its  leading  person- 
age, and  providence  for  its  plot. 


CHAPTER    IX 

OLD   TESTAMENT   PROPHECY 

The  prophetic  books  of  the  Old  Testament  are  sixteen 
in  number.  Of  these,  however,  five  —  standing  in  the 
names  of  Joel,  Obadiah,  Nahum,  Habakkuk,  Zephaniah 
—  consist  each  of  a  single  literary  composition.  They 
have  been  sufficiently  treated  in  the  preceding  chapter. 
The  rest  are  miscellaneous  collections  of  works  in  poetry 
and  prose.1 

The  title  page  to  The  Book  of  Isaiah  stands  thus  :  The 
Vision  of  Isaiah,  the  son  of  Amoz,  which  he  saw  con- 
cerning Judah  and  Jerusalem  in  the  days  of  Uzziah, 
Jotham,  Ahaz,  and  Hezekiah,  kings  of  Judah.  As  The 
Book  of  Isaiah  has  come  down  to  us,  its  latter  half 
is  occupied  with  the  rhapsody  of  Zion  Redeemed  — 
fully  described  in  the  preceding  chapter  —  the  author- 
ship of  which  is  one  of  the  problems  of  literary  history. 
Apart  from  this,  the  contents  of  the  book  agree  with 
the  title  in  presenting  the  life-work  of  a  prophet 
statesman.  The  Call  of  the  Prophet  dates  itself  "in 
the  year  that  King  Uzziah  died."  At  the  other  end, 
the  last  section  is  prophetic  history,  recording  the  min- 
istry of  Isaiah  under  Hezekiah.  One  of  the  interven- 
ing sections  relates  in  set  terms  to  a  crisis  in  the  reign 
of  Ahaz.     As  regards  the  rest,  although  commentators 

1  For  References,  and  divisions  of  books,  see  in  the  Appendix. 

285 


286  BIBLICAL    POETRY   AND    PROSE 

labour  to  read  the  utterances  of  Isaiah  into  their  exact 
historic  setting,  I  would  rather  suggest  that  the  language 
is  general  and  not  particular;  that  we  have,  not  exact 
reports  of  actual  discourses,  but  the  more  enduring 
thoughts  suggested  by  various  stages  of  a  life-long  min- 
istry worked  up  afresh  into  permanent  literary  form, 
with  a  significance  widened  from  the  original  circum- 
stances, an  applicability  that  is  universal. 

By  common  consent,  Isaiah  is  one  of  the  world's 
greatest  writers :  the  whole  range  of  literary  expression 
—  finished  oratory,  lyric  song,  imaginative  drama- 
tisation —  is  handled  with  the  ease  of  a  great  master. 
If  we  attempt  to  sum  up  the  general  spirit  of  the  whole, 
Isaiah  may  be  termed  a  man  of  a  single  idea,  and  this 
idea  is  the  dominant  note  of  all  Hebrew  prophecy:  the 
presentation  of  a  glorious  future  for  God's  people,  but 
a  future  which  is  to  be  reached  only  through  a  purg- 
ing judgment,  that  shall  leave  only  a  remnant  to  be 
saved. 

The  first  section  opens  with  a  general  arraignment  of 
Israel :  the  whole  head  is  sick,  the  heart  faint,  there  is 
no  soundness,  but  only  wounds,  bruises,  and  festering 
sores.     Yet  this  is  to  lead  to  the  opposite  tone:  — 

Come  now,  and  let  us  reason  together,  saith  the  Lord  : 
though  your  sins  be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  as  white  as  snow; 
though  they  be  red  like  crimson,  they  shall  be  as  wool. 

A  more  elaborate  discourse  follows:  to  the  glory  of  the 
Lord's  mountain,  established  at  the  head  of  the  moun- 
tains, the  way  lies  through  a  judgment,  in  which  the 
haughtiness  of  man  hides  itself  in  caves  and  holes  from 
the   terror   of   Jehovah.     There  follow  a  parable    of    a 


OLD   TESTAMENT   PROPHECY  287 

chosen  vineyard  bringing  forth  wild  grapes,  and  a  song 
of  sevenfold  woe.  At  last  the  prophet  describes  the 
vision  that  called  him  to  his  ministry.  In  the  midst  of 
the  overpowering  splendour  of  the  Divine  presence 
Isaiah  feels  himself  a  man  of  unclean  lips,  dwelling  in 
the  midst  of  a  people  of  unclean  lips;  when  his  lips 
have  been  cleansed  by  a  coal  from  the  altar,  he  receives 
a  commission  to  a  prophetic  work  that  shall  only  serve 
to  intensify  the  rebellion  of  the  rebellious,  until  the 
saved  remnant  is  left  as  no  more  than  the  stock  of  a 
felled  tree. 

The  second  division  of  the  prophecies  of  Isaiah  is 
devoted  to  a  strange  moment  of  national  history,  when 
Judah  found  itself  confronted  by  an  unnatural  alliance, 
between  the  brother  kingdom  of  Israel  and  the  common 
enemy,  Syria.  The  panic  of  King  Ahaz  and  his  courtiers 
is  met  by  Isaiah  with  a  series  of  brave  hopes,  utterances 
bound  together  by  the  'sign'  (or  text)  of  'Immanuel.' 
The  allied  enemies  are  in  a  mood  of  such  scornful  con- 
fidence that  a  newborn  child  among  them  will  be  named 
with  the  proud  name,  God-with-us  (Immanuel).1  But 
(Isaiah  declares)  before  that  child  shall  be  old  enough 
to  discern  good  from  evil  he  shall  be  eating  famine 
food,  and  the  land  shall  be  forsaken  of  both  the  allied 
kings.  The  prophet  foresees  the  vast  power  in  the  dis- 
tance, in  comparison  with  which  the  alliance  between 
Israel  and  Syria  is  a  trifle :  Assyrian  conquest  shall  come 
in  like  a  flood,  not  sparing  even  Judah,  but  filling  the 

1  I  am  varying  from  the  usual  interpretation  of  this  sign,  Immanuel. 
The  question  is  fully  discussed  in  the  Isaiah  volume  of  The  Modern 
Reader's  Bible,  pages  223-230 ;  or  in  my  Literary  Study  of  the  Bible, 
page  378  note. 


288  BIBLICAL    POETRY   AND    PROSE 

breadth  of  the  land  that  is  boasting  its  'God-with-us.' 
Yet  again  Isaiah  challenges  the  allied  foes:  — 

Take  counsel  together, 

And  it  shall  be  brought  to  nought; 

Speak  the  word, 

And  it  shall  not  stand  : 

For  God  is  with  us. 

The  boasting  word  of  the  enemy  has  been  caught  up,  in 
a  true  sense,  for  Judah.  And  —  after  a  lyric  contrast  of 
the  hopes  of  the  foes  and  the  actual  triumph  of  Judah 
—  the  changed  application  of  'Immanuel'  is  enlarged 
to  a  still  more  glorious  consummation. 

For  unto  us  a  child  is  born, 
Unto  us  a  son  is  given; 

And  the  government  shall  be  upon  his  shoulder : 
And  his  name  shall  be  called,  Wonderful  Counsellor, 
Mighty  God,  Everlasting  Father, 

Prince  of  Peace. 

The  third  section  is  a  picture  of  Assyrian  invasion  — 
an  idealised  picture  of  Assyrian  invasion  in  general. 
At  its  crisis  it  is  confounded  by  the  power  of  Jehovah. 
The  contrasting  picture  is  unfolded :  the  stock  of  Jesse 
shooting  out  afresh,  becoming  an  ensign  around  which 
the  nations  flock;  the  scene  is  a  holy  mountain,  where 
the  wolf  shall  dwell  with  the  lamb,  and  the  leopard  lie 
down  with  the  kid;  all  enmity  of  peoples  at  an  end, 
there  shall  be  heard  only  songs  of  rejoicing  around  the 
wells  of  salvation. 

The  fourth  section  contains  the  doom  songs  over 
foreign  peoples.  It  closes  with  a  grand  rhapsody  of 
judgment,  the  whole  universe  dissolving  under  the  visi- 
tation of  Jehovah,  cries  of  the  saved  and  the  lost  alter- 
nating amid  the  chaos  and  gloom;  at  the  centre  and 


OLD  TESTAMENT    PROPHECY  289 

climax  of  the  vision  the  veil  is  rent,  and  the  scene 
reveals  itself  as  a  holy  mountain  for  the  saved,  around 
which  are  scattered  the  downtrodden  enemies  of  Israel 
and  of  Jehovah. 

There  remains  the  fifth  section,  in  which  the  constant 
theme  of  Isaiah  is  applied  to  a  political  situation,  which 
is,  however,  chronic  and  general  rather  than  particular 
—  a  tendency  to  seek  refuge  in  some  other  direction, 
rather  than  in  submission  to  the  judgment  of  God.  The 
rulers  of  the  nation  have  a 'refuge  of  lies';  they  have 
made  a  'covenant  with  death,'  that  he  shall  pass  them 
by  in  the  universal  catastrophe.  In  some  discourses 
trust  in  Egypt  is  the  interpretation  put  upon  these  gen- 
eral terms.  Prophetic  scorn  sweeps  away  all  these  false 
hopes;  the  destroying  judgment  is  insisted  upon,  but 
beyond  is  unfolded  the  glorious  restoration.  Two  ideal 
pictures  crown  this  series  of  prophecies.  There  is  a 
rhapsody  of  salvation:  a  salvation  coming  at  the  eleventh 
hour,  while  the  "sinners  in  Zion "  —  those  who  have 
been  resting  on  these  false  hopes  —  tremble  before  the 
"everlasting  burnings"  that  come  to  cleanse  the  holy 
city.  Once  more,  there  is  presented  an  utter  destruc- 
tion, under  which  the  heavens  are  rolled  up  as  a  scroll, 
and  the  smoke  of  the  doomed  lands  goes  up  forever; 
but  in  contrast  we  have  the  wilderness  blossoming  as  a 
rose,  glowing  sands  changed  to  refreshing  pools  of  water, 
and  a  highway  of  holiness  over  which  the  ransomed  of 
the  Lord  return  with  singing  to  Zion,  with  everlasting 
joy  upon  their  heads. 

Tlie  Book  of  Jeremiah  may  be  called  a  prophetic 
autobiography.      It  must   not  be   assumed,    of  course, 


290  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND   PROSE 

that  its  discourses  and  poems  stand  in  the  exact  order 
of  the  events  to  which  they  refer;  but  the  broad  di- 
visions of  the  book  agree  with  stages  in  the  writer's 
career.  Moreover,  Jeremiah,  to  a  greater  extent  than 
other  prophets,  tells  his  secret  intercourse  with  God, 
and  his  personal  contact  with  rulers  or  the  people;  his 
matter  is  not  general,  but  connected  with  specified 
names  and  incidents.  Thus,  to  read  the  whole  is  to 
get  a  vivid  picture  of  the  life  of  Jeremiah,  and  of  the 
times  in  which  he  played  so  large  a  part. 

The  central  interest  is  the  personality  of  the  prophet 
himself.  Jeremiah's  lot  was  cast  at  a  time  when  north- 
ern Israel  had  already  fallen,  and  Judah  was  in  her  last 
decline.  What  appeared  of  independence  was  delusive; 
corruption  had  left  to  the  nation  no  freedom  except  a 
choice  of  masters.  A  courtly  aristocracy  was  looking 
in  the  direction  of  luxurious  Egypt;  the  earnest  portion 
of  the  nation  fought  against  subservience  to  Egypt  as 
the  worst  of  all  evils.  A  prophet  is  naturally  in  oppo- 
sition, but  Jeremiah  had  the  unpopular  mission  of  hold- 
ing up  to  his  people  subjugation  by  Babylon  as  their 
brightest  hope:  this  was  to  be  the  judgment  beyond 
which  lay  moral  restoration.  No  wonder  then  that  for 
his  whole  career  he  was  "the  weeping  prophet." 

Woe  is  me,  my  mother,  that  thou  hast  borne  me  a  man  of 
strife  and  a  man  of  contention  to  the  whole  earth ! 

But  stronger  than  the  opposition  from  without  was  the 
sacred  impulse  from  within. 

If  I  say,  I  will  not  make  mention  of  him,  nor  speak  any  more 
in  his  name,  then  there  is  in  mine  heart  as  it  were  a  burning 
fire  shut  up  in  my  bones,  and  I  am  weary  with  forbearing,  and 
I  cannot  contain. 


OLD  TESTAMENT   PROPHECY  291 

Thus,  in  the  phrase  of  the  Divine  commission  which 
is  repeated  at  the  close  of  his  principal  compositions, 
Jeremiah  is  a  brazen  wall,  a  pillar  and  fortress  to  his 
people;  they  will  fight  against  him,  but  they  will  not 
prevail. 

The  first  part  of  the  book  contains  poems  and  dis- 
courses, without  anything  to  suggest  that  the  prophet  is 
having  any  success  in  his  ministry,  or  any  recognition 
among  the  men  of  his  time.  Following  the  narrative 
of  Jeremiah's  call  we  have  what  may  be  termed  the 
prophet's  manifesto  —  an  embodiment  of  his  message  in 
all  its  fulness.  It  is  a  lengthy  discourse,  pleading  with 
Judah  on  God's  behalf;  this  at  a  particular  point 
becomes  an  elaborate  rhapsodic  scene,  the  forbearance 
of  Deity  gradually  yielding,  while  the  avenging  foe  is 
permitted  to  approach  by  stages,  vividly  pourtrayed  in 
rumours  and  signs  of  panic,  until  the  end  is  seen  in 
a  people  too  late  mourning  in  sackcloth  and  ashes. 
Shorter  discourses  and  pictures  of  panic  follow.  At 
one  point  Jeremiah  appears  as  a  missionary,  commis- 
sioned to  preach  throughout  the  cities  of  Judah  "the 
covenant"  —  the  new  religious  movement  born  out  of 
the  discovery  of  Deuteronomy  in  Josiah's  reign.  In 
this  part  of  the  work  is  found  the  most  considerable  of 
Jeremiah's  poems  —  the  Rhapsody  of  the  Drought:  its 
scene,  a  desolated  Judaea;  its  dramatic  movement,  an 
intercessory  struggle,  in  which  Jehovah,  who  at  first  will 
not  so  much  as  speak  to  the  repentant  People  except 
through  the  Prophet,  is  finally  won  to  mercy. 

At  last  a  turning-point  is  found  in  the  career  of  Jere- 
miah, and.  in  a  moment  he  becomes  a  leader  of  his 
people.     This  seems  to  be  brought  about  by  a   single 


292  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND   PROSE 

discourse  —  nay,  by  a  single  metaphor.  The  preacher 
has  caught  a  lesson  from  the  work  of  the  potter. 

And  when  the  vessel  that  he  made  of  the  clay  was  marred  in 
the  hand  of  the  potter,  he  made  it  again  another  vessel,  as 
seemed  good  to  the  potter  to  make  it.  Then  the  word  of  the 
Lord  came  to  me,  saying,  O  house  of  Israel,  cannot  I  do  with 
you  as  this  potter? 

The  familiarity  of  this  image  in  modern  discourse  must 
not  make  us  insensible  to  the  excitement  that  would 
attend  this  historic  use  of  it.  The  whole  trouble  of 
Israel  lay  in  a  false  confidence  that  its  position  as 
Jehovah's  chosen  people  was  unassailable,;  when  the 
reminder  came  that  the  Divine  potter  might  refashion 
his  clay  into  a  vessel  of  dishonour,  the  national  con- 
science quivered.  At  once  the  faithful  rallied  around 
Jeremiah :  attended  by  elders  of  the  people  and  of  the 
priests  he  led  a  grand  public  demonstration,  in  which 
the  symbol  of  the  potter's  bottle  was  carried  to  the  val- 
ley of  destruction.  On  his  return  he  was  arrested  :  this 
was  the  first  stroke  in  the  long  conflict  of  kings,  rulers, 
priests,  people,  around  Jeremiah  as  a  supreme  prophet. 
The  life  of  Jeremiah  henceforward  is  the  history  of 
Jerusalem  in  her  fall. 

The  mass  of  prophecies  following  this  point  do  not 
make  a  succession  in  time.  Besides  the  dooms  on 
foreign  peoples,  which  are  gathered  together  as  a  final 
section,  there  seem  to  be  groupings  of  discourses  under 
such  heads  as  messages  to  kings,  controversial  prophe- 
cies, and  the  like.  Nevertheless,  the  general  impression 
of  the  whole  is  a  chronicle  of  the  last  days  of  Jerusalem; 
and  more  and  more,  as  we  read  on,  prophecy  becomes 
history.     When  the  city  has  fallen,  the  career  of  Jere- 


OLD  TESTAMENT    PROPHECY  293 

miah  comes  to  the  strangest  of  conclusions:  the  prophet 
who  all  his  life  has  inveighed  against  Egypt  is  carried 
forcibly  into  Egypt  by  fugitives  from  Judah;  he  must  in 
this  hated  land  continue  his  ministry  of  rebuke  to  his 
fellow-captives,  and  is  met  by  a  stubbornness  that  puts 
down  all  the  nation's  woes  to  Jeremiah's  counsels.  But 
if  this  was  the  end  of  the  prophet's  acts,  it  was  not  the 
goal  of  his  hopes.  A  section  of  his  book  is  devoted  to 
prophecies  of  the  restoration,  and  all  his  powers  of  vivid 
expression  are  employed  to  depict  a  glorious  future  for 
a  spiritualised  Israel. 

Behold,  the  days  come,  saith  the  Lord,  that  I  will  make  a 
new  covenant  with  the  house  of  Israel,  and  with  the  house  of 
Judah  :  .  .  .  I  will  put  my  law  in  their  inward  parts,  and  in 
their  heart  will  I  write  it;  and  I  will  be  their  God,  and  they 
shall  be  my  people. 

With  The  Book  of  the  Prophet  Ezekiel  we  pass  into  a 
different  region  of  literature.  Ezekiel  among  the 
prophets  makes  the  nearest  approach  to  the  modern 
conception  of  a  spiritual  pastor.  In  part  this  arises 
from  the  circumstances  of  the  case;  while  Jeremiah  is 
plunged  in  the  political  turmoil  of  Jerusalem,  Ezekiel 
is  ministering  to  a  band  of  his  countrymen  who  have 
already  been,  carried  into  captivity  beside  the  river 
Chebar.  Again,  in  the  commission  given  to  the  prophet 
we  can  see  the  changed  character  of  his  prophetic  office. 
A  stupendous  vision  of  Divine  glory  accompanies  the 
call  of  Ezekiel.  The  vision  appears  three  times,  and 
there  are  three  distinct  phases  in  the  charge  which  is 
imposed.  With  the  first  vision  Ezekiel  is  commanded 
to  testify  through  the  representative  band  of  exiles  to 
the  nation  at  large  :  here  his  function  is  that  of  Isaiah 


294  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND   PROSE 

or  Jeremiah.  A  second  outburst  of  vision  establishes 
Ezekiel  as  the  watchman  of  the  captivity;  he  is  made 
responsible  for  the  souls  of  those  around  him,  and  their 
blood  will  be  upon  his  head  if  they  die  in  their  sins 
and  he  has  failed  to  speak  his  warning.  But  the  vision 
comes  yet  a  third  time. 

Then  the  spirit  entered  into  me,  and  set  me  upon  my  feet; 
and  he  spake  with  me,  and  said  unto  me,  Go,  shut  thyself 
within  thine  house.  But  thou,  son  of  man,  behohl,  they  shall 
lay  bands  upon  thee,  and  shall  bind  thee  with  them,  and  thou 
shalt  not  go  out  among  them  :  and  I  will  make  thy  tongue 
cleave  to  the  roof  of  thy  mouth,  that  thou  shalt  be  dumb,  and 
shalt  not  be  to  them  a  reprover,  for  they  are  a  rebellious  house. 
But  when  I  speak  with  thee,  I  will  open  thy  mouth,  and  thou 
shalt  say  unto  them,  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God.1 

It  will  be  remembered  how  the  prophets  of  Israel  were 
accustomed  to  move  about  among  the  people  in  their 
public  life,  bringing  home  to  them  in  each  crisis  some 
application  of  Divine  truth.  Ezekiel  is  expressly  for- 
bidden to  do  this;  he  is  not  to  go  to  the  people,  but  the 
people  are  to  come  to  him.  In  the  book  that  follows, 
Ezekiel  is  never  seen  in  public;  on  the  other  hand,  there 
is  evidence  of  a  daily  custom  that  the  elders-appear  in  the 
prophet's  house,  waiting  till  the  hand  of  God  shall  fall 
upon  him.  Even  when  his  hearers  are  present,  Ezekiel 
is  to  remain  dumb  until  the  prophetic  impulse  unlocks 
hfs  speech.  Thus  what  The  Book  of  Ezekiel  gives  us  is  a 
picture  of  daily  devotional  meetings,  and  of  prophecies 
poured  forth  at  the  moment  of  their  inspiration.2 

1  Ezekiel  iii.  24-27. 

2  This  is  not  the  usual  interpretation  of  the  '  dumbness '  of  Ezekiel. 
The  reasons  for  my  view  are  fully  discussed  in  the  Ezekiel  volume  of 
The  Modern  Reader's  Bible,  pnges  187-190. 


OLD  TESTAMENT  PROPIIL(  Y  295 

But  if  the  general  character  of  his  work  approaches 
the  modern  pastorate,  the  mode  of  Ezekiel's  preaching 
is  removed  to  the  furthest  degree  from  the  modern  ser- 
mon. Ezekiel  is  the  great  representative  of  emblem 
prophecy.  We  are  accustomed  to  the  idea  of  sermons 
upon  texts;  but  our  texts  are  quotations  from  Scripture. 
In  emblem  prophecy  the  text  is  some  visible  thing,  or 
some  external  action,  used  by  way  of  object  lesson;  the 
discourse  works  out  in  detail  the  symbolism  and  makes 
application.  Such  symbolic  prophecy  we  have  already 
seen  in  such  a  case  as  the  procession  of  Jeremiah, 
which  carried  aloft  a  potter's  bottle,  and  solemnly  broke 
it  to  pieces  in  the  valley  of  destruction;  the  symbolic 
action  so  described  is  the  text,  the  comments  accom- 
panying this  action  make  the  sermon.  These  emblem 
prophecies  formed  the  staple  of  Ezekiel's  ministry.  The 
discourses  as  they  stand  in  The  Book  of  Ezekiel  must  be 
read  as  records;  they  indicate  an  emblem  and  its  appli- 
cation. Sometimes  the  application  is  expanded  at 
length  and  with  eloquence;  in  other  cases  a  line  or  two 
indicates  the  spiritual  application  made  of  the  visible 
symbol,  while  we  are  left  to  imagine  the  actual  discourse 
spoken  by  the  prophet  to  his  audience  of  fellow-captives. 

A  simple  illustration  is  the  following  :  — 

Moreover,  the  word  of  the  Lord  came  to  me,  saying,  Son  of 
man,  eat  thy  bread  with  quaking,  and  drink  thy  water  with 
trembling  and  with  carefulness ;  and  say  unto  the  people  of 
the  land,  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God  concerning  the  inhabitants 
of  Jerusalem,  and  the  land  of  Israel :  They  shall  eat  their  bread 
with  carefulness,  and  drink  their  water  with  astonishment,  that 
her  land  may  be  desolate  from  all  that  is  therein.1 

1  Ezekiel  xii.  17. 


296  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND   PROSE 

It  is  easy  to  imagine  the  preacher  briefly  going  through 
the  form  of  eating  and  drinking  after  the  fashion  of 
those  who  are  panic-stricken  with  horrors  of  siege  and 
famine,  and  then  enlarging  into  a  discourse  —  here  left 
to  our  imagination  —  upon  the  coming  overthrow  of 
the  sacred  city. 

The  simplest  act  or  gesture  may  serve  as  emblem  text : 
the  smiting  of  the  hands,  or  stamping  of  the  feet,  or  the 
setting  the  face  in  the  direction  of  the  doomed  land. 
Or  the  emblem  may  be  the  reiteration  of  a  cry,  such  as 
"  It  cometh !  It  cometh ! "  Ezekiel  loves  to  use  a 
parable  for  text :  here  the  emblem  is  narrated  instead  of 
being  visibly  acted,  yet  still  is  objective  in  its  effect. 
It  is  easy  to  see  how  the  idea  of  emblem  may  be  extended 
to  include  a  vision  —  seen  by  the  prophet,  but  narrated 
to  the  audience:  in  these  cases  it  is  an  important  prin- 
ciple of  interpretation  that  the  vision  is  no  more  than 
the  emblematic  text;  the  truth  conveyed  must  be  looked 
for  in  the  application. 

At  times,  however,  the  symbolic  discourse  of  Ezekiel 
reaches  the  highest  degree  of  elaborateness;  we  have  a 
unique  type  of  literature,  needing  careful  study  for  its 
correct  interpretation.  I  will  take  two  widely  different 
illustrations. 

Thou  also,  son  of  man,  take  thee  a  tile,  and  lay  it  before 
thee,  and  pourtray  upon  it  a  city,  even  Jerusalem :  and  lay 
siege  against  it,  and  build  forts  against  it,  and  cast  up  a  mount 
against  it;  set  camps  also  against  it,  and  plant  battering  rams 
against  it  round  about.  And  take  thou  unto  thee  an  iron  pan, 
and  set  it  for  a  wall  of  iron  between  thee  and  the  city :  and  set 
thy  face  toward  it,  and  it  shall  be  besieged,  and  thou  shalt  lay 
siege  against  it.     This  shall  be  a  sign  to  the  house  of  Israel. 

Moreover,  lie  thou  upon  thy  left  side,  and  lay  the  iniquity  of 


OLD    TKSTAMKXT    PROPHECY  297 

the  house  of  Israel  upon  it:  according  to  the  number  of  the 
clays  that  thou  shalt  lie  upon  it,  thou  shalt  bear  their  iniquity. 
For  I  have  appointed  the  years  of  their  iniquity  to  be  unto 
thee  a  number  of  days,  even  three  hundred  and  ninety  days: 
so  shalt  thou  bear  the  iniquity  of  the  house  of  Israel.  And 
again,  when  thou  hast  accomplished  these,  thou  shalt  lie  on 
thy  right  side,  and  shalt  bear  the  iniquity  of  the  house  of  Judah  : 
forty  days,  each  day  for  a  year,  have  I  appointed  it  unto  thee. 
.  .  .  And,  behold,  I  lay  bands  upon  thee,  and  thou  shalt  not 
turn  thee  from  one  side  to  another,  till  thou  hast  accomplished 
the  days  of  thy  siege.1 

Neglect  of  the  foundation  principle  of  emblem  prophecy 
—  that  the  emblem  is  the  text  only,  and  not  the  prophecy 
itself  —  has  led  to  strange  misinterpretation  of  the  pas- 
sage just  quoted;  it  has  been  supposed  that  Ezekiel  was 
commanded  to  lie  on  his  side  for  more  than  a  year  by 
way  of  prophetic  testimony.  The  simple  meaning  is 
that,  for  the  period  indicated,  the  text  of  the  daily  ser- 
mon would  be  taken  from  some  portion  of  the  mimic 
besieging  so  described;  a  few  moments  of  dumb  show 
would  be  sufficient,  and  then  symbolic  action  would  give 
place  to  spoken  discourse.  Thirteen  verses 2  contain  the 
sketch  of  matter  which,  in  actual  delivery,  the  prophet 
would  expand  and  vary  through  some  hundreds  of  daily 
discourses. 

There  is  elaborateness  of  a  different  kind  where,  in 
place  of  a  text  followed  by  its  application,  we  have 
symbolic  text  and  interpreting  discourse  interwoven 
through  the  whole  of  a  lengthy  prophecy.  The  great 
example  is  the  Prophecy  of  the  Sword:3  here  attitude, 
gesture,  visible  emblem,  sustained  dumb  show,  are  all 
mingled,  and  combined  with  song.     Now  the  prophet 

1  Chapter  iv.  -  Chapter  v.  5-17.  3  Ezekiel,  Chapter  xxi. 


298  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND   PROSE 

is  personating  the  threatening  war,  now  he  sighs  and 
trembles  with  the  panic  of  the  expectant  city;  now  the 
point  of  the  sword  is  used  to  trace  on  the  ground  the 
route  of  the  conqueror,  suddenly  it  is  turned  against 
the  enemies  of  Judah  in  the  midst  of  their  gloating 
triumph.  Intermingling  with  the  prose  of  prophetic 
discourse  we  can  trace,  in  snatches,  the  Folk-song  of  the 
Sword,  its  lines  gathering  length  as  the  passion  works  up. 

A  sword, 

A  sword, 
It  is  sharpened, 

And  also  furbished  : 

It  is  sharpened  that  it  may  make  a  slaughter; 

It  is  furbished  that  it  may  be  as  lightning ! 
And  it  is  given  to  be  furbished  that  it  may  be  handled : 

The  sword  it  is  sharpened,  yea  it  is  furbished,  to  give 
it  into  the  hand  of  the  slayer  ! 

And  let  the  sword  be  doubled  the  third  time; 

The  sword  of  the  deadly  wounded  : 

It  is  the  sword  of  the  great  one  that  is  deadly  wounded 
Which  compasseth  them  about. 

I  have  set  the  point  of  the  sword  against  all  their  gates, 

That  their  heart  may  melt, 

And  their  stumblings  be  multiplied  : 
Ah  !  it  is  made  as  lightning  ! 

It  is  pointed  for  slaughter  — 

Gather  thee  together,  go  to  the  right; 

Set  thyself  in  array,  go  to  the  left  — 
Whithersoever  thy  face  is  set. 

It  seems  to  be  a  law  of  style  in  Ezekiel's  writing  that 
where  visible  emblems  are  not  used,  a  substitute  is  found 
in  sustained   imagery.     The  doom   prophecies  against 


OLD    rESTAMENT   PROPHECY  299 

foreign  nations  —  which  from  the  nature  of  the  case 
could  not  be  spoken  in  the  presence  of  those  against 
whom  they  are  directed  —  are  made  impressive  as  litera- 
ture by  the  way  in  which  a  single  image  will  be  expanded 
through  a  whole  discourse,  until  it  comes  to  have  the 
objective  force  of  a  visible  picture.  Thus  the  denuncia- 
tion of  the  greatest  of  maritime  cities  appears  as  the 
Wreck  of  the  Good  Ship  Tyre;  '  we  have  all  the  peoples 
of  the  world  joining  in  the  building  and  loading  of  the 
mighty  ship,  until  it  becomes  a  thing  of  glory  in  the 
seas  —  only  to  suffer  shipwreck,  to  the  panic  and  distress 
of  all  mariners  and  merchant  princes. 

The  contents  of  The  Book  of  Ezekiel  may  be  variously 
analysed,  according  as  we  lay  more  stress  upon  form  or 
upon  matter.  If  we  divide  on  the  basis  of  the  distinct 
emblem  discourses,  we  may  recognise  seven  books,  each 
of  which,  except  the  fourth,  contains  seven  emblem 
prophecies.  The  fourth  and  central  section  is  made  up 
of  a  single  discourse;  but  this  displays  the  whole  range 
of  Ezekiel's  doctrine:  it  is  a  prophetic  manifesto.  If 
we  turn  our  attention  to  the  subject-matter,  a  simpler 
arrangement  will  suggest  itself.  Alike  with  Jeremiah 
and  Ezekiel,  the  main  obstacle  encountered  was  the 
obstinate  confidence  of  the  demoralised  people  in  the 
impregnable  security  of  Jerusalem;  the  main  work  of 
the  prophets  was  to  undermine  this  confidence,  and 
rouse  to  hopes  of  restoration  through  moral  reform. 
From  this  point  of  view  The  Book  of  Ezekiel  falls  into 
three  natural  divisions.  The  doom  prophecies  are 
gathered  together  into  one  section,  and  this  divides  the 

1  Chapter  xxvii. 


300  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND   PROSE 

earlier  prophecies,  which  all  insist  upon  the  fall  of  Jeru- 
salem, from  the  last,  which  proclaim  a  glorious  restora- 
tion. The  first  and  third  sections  are  bound  together 
by  two  companion  visions  of  Jerusalem.  Among  the 
early  discourses  we  have  the  Vision  of  Jerusalem  in  her 
Pollutions.  The  whole  book  ends  with  the  Vision  of 
Jerusalem  in  her  Glory,  prophetic  counterpart  to  the 
Pattern  on  the  Mount  as  seen  by  the  founder  of  the 
Law, — an  elaborated  ideal  of  a  perfect  city,  perfect 
Temple  service,  and  perfectly  organised  land. 

Ezekiel  occupies  a  unique  place  in  literary  history, 
the  one  great  master  of  a  highly  specialised  and  now 
obsolete  literary  type.  As  Isaiah  among  the  prophets 
was  the  great  poet,  Jeremiah  the  great  preacher  and 
statesman,  so  Ezekiel  was  the  great  artist.  The  highest 
histrionic  power  is  implied  in  a  dumb  show  and  gesture 
that  could  associate  itself  with  oratorical  literature  in  its 
most  severe  beauty.  It  is  therefore  not  surprising  that, 
in  the  impression  made  on  the  very  people  to  whom 
Ezekiel  ministered,  there  was  a  danger  of  the  form 
becoming  more  attractive  than  the  message  it  adorned. 

Son  of  man,  the  children  of  thy  people  talk  of  thee  by  the 
walls  and  in  the  doors  of  the  houses,  .  .  .  saying,  Come,  I 
pray  you,  and  hear  what  is  the  word  that  cometh  forth  from  the 
Lord.  .  .  .  And,  lo,  thou  art  unto  them  as  a  very  lovely  song 
of  one  that  hath  a  pleasant  voice,  and  can  play  well  on  an  in- 
strument:  for  they  hear  thy  words,  but  they  do  them  not.1 

To  this  artist-preacher  was  committed  a  ministry  which, 
through  nearly  its  whole  course,  was  a  ministry  of  rebuke 
and  despair.  And  for  this  contrast  between  spirit  and 
form  we  are  prepared  from    the    first    moment   of    the 

1  Ezekiel  xxxiii.  30. 


OLD  TESTAMENT  PROPHEC*  301 

prophet's  call.  In  the  midst  of  the  overpowering  vision 
a  roll  of  a  book  is  spread  before  Ezekiel:  it  is  written 
within  and  without,  with  lamentations,  and  mourning, 
and  woe.  The  prophet  in  his  vision  eats  this  book  of 
woe:  and  it  is  in  his  mouth  as  honey  for  sweetness.1 

The  Book  of  Daniel  falls  into  two  very  different  parts. 
First,  we  have  in  succession  six  stories  of  the  captivity, 
recording  the  adventures  of  Daniel  and  his  fellow- 
exiles  in  Babylon :  how  they  rose  to  posts  of  the  highest 
authority  in  the  empire,  and  how  by  their  life  and  wis- 
dom they  were  able  to  vindicate  the  supremacy  of 
Jehovah  over  all  other  gods.  What  follows  belongs  to 
apocalyptic  or  vision  prophecy :  a  series  of  mystic 
visions  and  their  interpretations.  However  full  of 
difficulties  these  visions  may  be  to  the  theological 
interpreter,  considered  as  a  work  of  literature  the  book 
needs  no  further  discussion. 

Hosea,  in  the  title  page  to  his  book  of  prophecy,  is 
represented  as  a  contemporary  of  Isaiah;  he  ministered 
mainly  to  the  northern  kingdom  of  Israel.  The  period 
is  one  of  material  prosperity  and  deep-seated  moral  cor- 
ruption, an  immediate  prelude  to  the  kingdom's  final 
fall.  From  the  literary  side  two  points  are  notable  in 
regard  to  The  Book  of  Hosea.  This  writer,  more  than 
any  other,  makes  use  of  the  prophetic  'sentence  ';  long 
strings  of  such  sentences  occupy  the  centre  of  the  book,2 
as  disconnected  as  the  contents  of  7'he  Book  of  Proverbs. 
On  the  other  hand,  we  have,  at  the  opening  and  close, 
two  elaborate  compositions,  masterpieces  of  prophetic 

1  Ezekiel  ii.  8-iii.  3.  2  E.g.  ix.  7-x. 


302  BIBLICAL    POETRY   AND   PROSE 

imagination;  and  these  give  emphasis  to  what  is  the 
foremost  conception  of  Hosea  —  the  passionate  love  of 
Jehovah  for  his  rebellious  people. 

The  first  of  these  is  the  emblem  prophecy  of  Gomer; 
unless  indeed  —  as  many  commentators  think  —  we  are 
to  understand  the  prophet  as  narrating  actual  facts,  and 
not  weaving  a  parable.1  Hosea  represents  himself  (in 
fact  or  metaphor)  as  united  by  command  of  God  with 
a  wife,  Gomer,  who  is  unfaithful;  his  struggles  to  bring 
her  to  repentance  are  reminders  of  God's  ways  with 
Israel,  and  the  children  of  this  unhappy  union  are 
named  so  as  to  symbolise  successive  stages  of  divorce 
from  God.  At  the  close  of  the  book  another  prophecy 
uses  another  human  bond  to  convey  God's  relations  with 
his  people.  In  this  rhapsody,  The  Yearning  of  God,2 
the  image  is  that  of  a  father,  justly  incensed,  distracted 
between  indignation  and  tenderness.  The  literary  treat- 
ment is  striking:  the  effect  of  dialogue  is  produced  by 
alternating  monologue,  between  opposite  moods  in  the 
Divine  breast. 

When  Israel  was  a  child,  then  I  loved  him,  and  called  my 
son  out  of  Egypt.  — 

As  they  called  them,  so  they  went  from  them  :  they  sacri- 
ficed unto  the  Baalim,  and  burned  incense  to  graven  images.  — 

Yet  I  taught  Ephraim  to  go;  I  took  them  on  my  arms;  but 
they  knew  not  that  I  healed  them.  I  drew  them  with  cords  of 
a  man,  with  bands  of  love;  and  I  was  to  them  as  they  that  take 
off  the  yoke  on  their  jaws,  and  I  laid  meat  before  them.  — 

1  Chapters  i-iii.  The  question  is  fully  discussed  in  the  Minor  Prophets 
volume  of  The  Modern  Reader 's  Bible,  pages  239-241.  The  chief  rep- 
resentative of  the  other  view  is  Plumptre,  who  has  founded. on  it  his 
beautiful  poem  of  '  Gomer.'  See  his  edition  of  Hosea  in  the  Cambridge 
Bible  for  Schools.  -  Hosea  xi-xiv. 


OLD   TESTAMENT   PROPHECY  303 

He  shall  not  return  into  the  land  of  Egypt;   but  the  Assyrian 

shall  he  his  king,  because  they  refused  to  return.  And  the 
sword  shall  fall  upon  Ins  eities,  and  shall  consume  his  liars,  and 
devour  them,  because  of  their  own  counsels.  And  my  people  are 
bent  to  backsliding  from  me  :  though  they  call  them  to  him 
that  is  on  high,  none  at  all  will  lift  himself  up.  — 

How  shall  I  give  thee  up,  Ephraim  ?  how  shall  I  deliver 
thee,  Israel  ?  how  shall  I  make  thee  as  Admah  ?  how  shall  I 
set  thee  as  Zeboim  ?  mine  heart  is  turned  within  me,  my  com- 
passions are  kindled  together.  I  will  not  execute  the  fierceness 
of  mine  anger,  I  will  not  return  to  destroy  Ephraim:  for  I  am 
God  and  not  man. — 

The  alternation  between  justice  and  mercy  is  prolonged; 
at  last  a  second  speaker  appears  under  the  name  Ephraim 
—  Hosea's  term  for  northern  Israel:  the  rebellious  child 
speaks  words  of  penitence,  and  the  end  is  reconciliation. 

The  Book  of  Amos  is  made  up  of  two  pieces  of 
prophecy,  very  different  in  kind.  The  first  is  the  simple 
oracle,  an  isolated  word  of  Divine  inspiration,  without 
note  or  comment.     It  stands  thus :  — 

The  words  of  Amos,  who  zuas  among  the  herd  men  of  Tekoa, 
which  he  saiv  concerning  Israel  in  the  days  of  Uzziah  king  of 
Judah,  and  in  the  days  of  Jeroboam  the  son  of  Joash  king  of 
Israel,  two  years  before  the  earthquake.     And  he  said :  — 

The  Lord  shall  roar  from  Zion, 

And  utter  his  voice  from  Jerusalem  : 
And  the  habitations  of  the  shepherds  shall  mourn, 

And  the  top  of  Carmel  shall  wither. 

This  is  an  oracle  of  prediction;  and  the  general  sugges- 
tion is  that  this  prediction  of  what  actually  came  to 
pass  as  "the  great  earthquake  in  the  days  of  Uzziah" 
raised  Amos  from  his  lowly  position,  and  brought  him 
recognition  as  a  notable  prophet. 


504  BIBLICAL    POETRY   AND    PROSE 

All  that  follows  is  a  single  prophecy,  and  it  may  be 
entitled,  A  Rhapsody  of  the  Judgment  to  Come.  It  is 
in  three  sections.  The  first  has  the  general  spirit  of  a 
doom  song:  six  stanzas,  of  markedly  parallel  structure, 
voice  Divine  wrath  against  six  guilty  nations;  then,  by 
a  climax  of  surprise,  the  same  wrath  is  hurled  at  Judah 
and  Israel.  Thus,  as  a  first  stage  of  judgment  Israel  is 
included  among  the  doomed  nations.  The  second  sec- 
tion, again  a  sevenfold  outburst  of  Divine  denunciation, 
describes  the  corruption  that  is  already  ripe  for  judg- 
ment. In  the  third  section  the  judgment  is  presented 
as  advancing  by  stages,  until  the  overthrow  of  God's 
chosen  people  is  complete;  yet,  at  the  last,  there  is  a 
sifted  remnant  reserved  for  the  restoration  that  is  on  the 
other  side  of  judgment.1 

Jonah  is  entirely  different  in  character  from  the  rest 
of  the  prophetic  books. »  It  is  epic  prophecy,  like  the 
stories  of  the  prophets  scattered  through  Samuel  and 
Kings :  the  Divine  revelation  is  conveyed  neither  in 
discourse  nor  dramatic  picture,  but  in  the  life  and  acts 
of  the  prophet  himself.  The  book  falls  into  two  parts, 
each  embodying  its  half  of  a  complete  truth. 

At  the  outset  Jonah  received  a  command  to  go  to 
Xineveh  and  denounce  its  wickedness.     He  resisted, 

1  I  may  just  mention  a  marked  feature  of  Amos's  writing,  full  justice 
to  which  could  be  done  only  by  a  detailed  comment.  This  is  the  paren- 
thetic interruption  :  rhapsodic  presentation  of  Divine  warning  or  judg- 
ment is  from  time  to  time  interrupted  by  subjective  reflections,  chiefly 
appeals  to  opponents  of  prophecy  in  general.  In  a  less  degree  this  is 
found  in  the  writings  of  Isaiah.  For  a  full  discussion,  see  in  The  Mod- 
ern Reader's  Bible  r  Minor  Prophets  volume,  pages  251-253  ;  Isaiah  vol- 
ume, page  213. 


OLD  TESTAMENT    PROPHECY  305 

and  fled  by  ship  to  the  far  west,  seeking  to  escape  from 
the  presence  of  the  Lord.  The  story  tells  how  a  great 
wind  was  hurled  into  the  sea;  how  the  affrighted  mari- 
ners, of  varying  nations  and  countries,  cried  each  upon 
his  god;  how  Jonah  himself  was  roused  from  sleep  to 
confront  the  situation.  He  recognised  that  the  presence 
of  Jehovah  was  pursuing  him,  and  showed  submission 
by  asking  to  be  cast  overboard  as  sole  cause  of  the  storm. 
The  mariners  reluctantly  obeyed;  Jonah  was  cast  into 
the  sea,  and  miraculously  rescued.  To  appreciate  the 
prophetic  revelation  underlying  this  part  of  the  story  we 
must  place  ourselves  in  the  mental  position  of  the  times. 
The  early  conception  of  deity  was  of  a  local  power,  an 
omnipotence  bounded  by  geographical  limits.  Thus, 
the  servants  of  the  king  of  Syria,  when  defeated  in  battle 
by  Israel,  exclaimed  ' :  — 

Their  god  is  a  god  of  the  hills;  therefore  they  were  stronger 
than  we  :  but  let  us  fight  against  them  in  the  plain,  and  surely 
we  shall  be  stronger  than  they. 

A  similar  conception  had  animated  Jonah;  the  incident 
of  the  tempest  brought  home  to  him  that  the  power  of 
Jehovah  covered  all  lands  and  the  sea  itself. 

A  second  time  the  word  came  to  Jonah;  he  instantly 
journeyed  to  Nineveh,  and  applied  himself  with  zeal  to 
his  ministry  of  denunciation  and  doom.  The  result  was 
a  surprise;  the  vast  city  was  roused  to  repentance,  and 
the  doom  was  stayed.  Jonah  remonstrated  with  God  at 
this  mercy  shown  to  the  Ninevites.  It  is  by  a  kind  of 
emblem  prophecy  that  God  raises  his  prophet  to  a  loftier 
conception.     In  the  sultry  plains  of  Nineveh  Jonah  is 

1  /  Kings  xx.  23. 


306  BIBLICAL   POETRY  AND   PROSE 

sheltered  by  a  gourd  plant,  and  comes  to  love  the  fair 
thing  of  nature.  The  gourd  is  suddenly  destroyed;  and 
Jonah  declares  in  the  presence  of  God  that  he  does  well 
to  be  angry. 

And  the  Lord  said:  Thou  hast  had  pity  on  the  gourd,  for 
the  which  thou  hast  not  laboured,  neither  madest  it  grow; 
which  came  up  in  a  night,  and  perished  in  a  night  :  and  should 
not  I  have  pity  on  Nineveh,  that  great  city;  wherein  are  more 
than  sixscore  thousand  persons  that  cannot  discern  between 
their  right  hand  and  their  left  hand;   and  also  much  cattle? 

The  revelation  here  is  not  the  compassion  of  God,  for 
that  Jonah  expressly  declares  he  had  known  from  the 
beginning.  But  the  Hebrew  thinker  had  believed  with 
all  his  might  that  mercy  was  the  peculiar  privilege  of 
the  chosen  people  of  God;  by  his  experience  with  the 
gourd  plant  he  was  brought  into  sympathy  with  a  Divine 
compassion  that  embraced,  not  heathen  peoples  only, 
but  even  helpless  infancy  and  the  beasts  of  the  field. 
Thus,  the  first  part  of  Jonah  is  a  revelation  of  the  uni- 
versal omnipotence  of  Jehovah;  the  complete  truth  is 
that  his  mercy  is  coextensive  with  his  power. 

The  title  page  of  Micah  makes  the  prophet  a  contem- 
porary of  Isaiah;  like  Isaiah  he  belongs  to  the  southern 
kingdom.  The  two  make  an  interesting  contrast;  Isaiah 
immersed  in  the  great  affairs  of  the  capital,  while  Micah 
exercises  his  ministry  in  the  country  districts  of  Judah. 
But  the  prophetic  message  is  the  same;  in  both  cases 
denunciation  of  corruption  and  threatening  of  doom  are 
balanced  by  golden  hopes  of  restoration  and  Messianic 
rule. 

In  literary  form  the  book  falls  into  two  different  parts. 


OLD  TESTAMENT    PROPHECY  307 

The  first1  is  an  elaborate  discourse  of  judgment  and  sal- 
vation, which  becomes  rhapsodic  in  parts,  as  it  pictures 
the  steps  of  advancing  doom.  This  is  followed  by  two 
prophecies  in  dramatic  dialogue.  The  first  is  the 
briefest  of  all  such  dialogues,  yet  embodies  a  great  con- 
ception. The  mountains  —  emblem  of  eternal  princi- 
ples of  right  —  are  made  judges  in  Jehovah's  controversy 
with  his  people.  The  Divine  plaintiff  recites  his  mer- 
cies to  his  chosen  nation,  and  appeals  against  ingratitude. 
Defendant  Israel  knows  not  what  plea  to  make. 

Wherewith  shall  I  come  before  the  Lord,  and  bow  myself 
before  the  high  God  ?  shall  I  come  before  him  with  burnt  offer- 
ings, with  calves  of  a  year  old  ?  Will  the  Lord  be  pleased 
with  thousands  of  rams  or  with  ten  thousands  of  rivers  of  oil  ? 
Shall  I  give  my  firstborn  for  my  transgression,  the  fruit  of  my 
body  for  the  sin  of  my  soul  ? 

The  mountains  pronounce  their  judgment. 

He  hath  shewed  thee,  O  man,  what  is  good;  and  what  doth 
the  Lord  require  of  thee,  but  to  do  justly,  and  to  love  mercy, 
and  to  walk  humbly  with  thy  God  ? 

To  the  second  of  Micah's  dramatic  prophecies  allusion 
has  already  been  made.2  The  same  controversy  between 
God  and  Israel  is  presented,  but  a  new  speaker  appears; 
the  'man  of  wisdom  '  represents  the  remnant  to  be  saved, 
and  rejoices  in  confidence  while  all  around  is  despair. 
The  tone  of  confidence  gathers  strength,  and  the  dialogue 
ends  with  celebration  of  the  pardoning  God. 

The  remaining  books  of  Old  Testament  prophecy 
stand  in  the  names  of  Haggai,  Zechariah,  Malachi.  But 
here  arises  a  question  of  literary  form,  whether  there  is 

1  Chapters  i-v.  2  Above,  page  7. 


308  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND   PROSE 

not  error  in  the  traditional  divisions  of  the  sacred  books. 
Haggai  and  Zechariah  appear  in  history  as  prophets  of 
the  return,  whose  office  is  to  strengthen  the  faith  of 
those  who  are  rebuilding  the  Temple.  The  contents 
of  the  books  confirm  this,  to  the  end  of  the  eighth  chap- 
ter of  our  Book  of  Zechariah.  The  rest  of  this  book 
seems  to  have  no  connection  with  what  has  preceded, 
and  no  connection  with  the  historical  personality  of 
Zechariah.  Again,  'Malachi*  has  no  resemblance  to 
a  personal  name;  it  signifies  'My  Messenger,'  and  makes 
an  excellent  subject-title  for  the  book  to  which  it  is 
affixed;  moreover,  it  is  clear  that  it  was  so  understood 
in  the  times  of  the  Septuagint  and  the  Targums.  The 
general  suggestion  of  these  facts  is  this  :  Originally  the 
roll  of  prophets  contained  books  ascribed  to  known 
authors,  ending  with  Zechariah;  these  were  followed  by 
anonymous  prophecies,  ending  with  the  book  entitled 
Malachi.  But  in  time  'Malachi '  came  to  be  read  as  a 
personal  name,  like  Isaiah  or  Jeremiah;  then  the  rest 
of  the  anonymous  prophecies,  standing  alone,  came  to 
attach  themselves  to  The  Book  of  Zechariah. 

Haggai  is  made  up  of  four  prophecies  exactly  dated, 
all  of  them  encouragements  to  the  builders  of  the  Tem- 
ple. The  Book  of  Zechariah  (that  is,  the  first  eight 
chapters  of  the  biblical  Zechariah)  is  made  up  of  three 
prophecies,  exactly  dated  in  the  same  manner.  The 
first  is  a  general  manifesto  of  this  prophet's  message. 
The  third  is  an  elaborate  response  to  a  formal  inquiry 
on  the  subject  of  fast  days.  Between  these  is  found  a 
prophetic  composition  of  great  literary  importance. 

The  Sevenfold  Vision  of  Zechariah  is  beyond  any 
prophecy  of  the  Old  Testament  in  the  demand  it  makes 


OLD  TESTAMENT   PROPHECY  309 

upon  the  imaginative  powers.  Both  in  form  and  spirit 
it  is  a  counterpart  of  the  still  more  elaborate  Revelation 
of  St.  John.  Dream  form  pervades  the  whole;  but  it 
is  the  most  complex  of  all  dreams.  When,  in  the 
middle  of  the  prophecy,  it  is  said  that  the  angel  'wakes  ' 
the  prophet,  the  meaning  is  not  that  he  was  waked  from 
his  dream,  but  in  his  dream:  we  have  vision  within 
vision  and  dream  within  dream.  There  is  what  may  be 
called  the  'enveloping  vision  ' :  in  a  mystic  land  horses, 
red,  sorrel,  and  white,  stand  among  the  myrtle  trees, 
ready  to  serve  as  ministers  of  the  Divine  purposes,  going 
to  and  fro  in  the  earth.  This  enveloping  vision,  made 
prominent  at  the  beginning  and  the  close,  remains 
throughout  as  a  background  to  what  else  appears.  There 
follow,  like  a  succession  of  dissolving  views,  the  seven 
emblem  visions,  each  symbolising  some  mercy  for  Israel. 
Horns  and  smiths  typify  the  nations  which  have  afflicted, 
the  powers  which  are  to  avenge.  The  measuring  of 
Jerusalem  foreshadows  a  sacred  city  that  is  to  spread 
beyond  the  power  of  measurement.  The  third  vision  is 
a  counterpart  to  the  scene  with  which y<?£  opens:  before 
the  hierarchy  of  heaven  the  high  priest  Joshua,  repre- 
sentative of  the  Temple  builders,  is  arraigned,  and  glo- 
riously acquitted  and  exalted.  In  the  central  vision  the 
golden  candlestick  makes  sure  the  completion  to  the  last 
detail  of  the  restored  Temple.  Next,  the  two  olive  trees 
typify  the  two  'sons  of  oil'  —  priesthood  and  princely 
authority  now  reconciled.  The  visions  of  the  flying 
roll,  of  the  ephah  and  talent,  are  made  to  foreshadow 
the  moral  purification  of  the  land.  Then  the  envelop- 
ing vision  resumes  its  prominence,  and  the  ministering 
powers  are  seen  already  accomplishing  their  work.    The 


310  BIBLICAL    TOETRY   AND    PROSE 

vision  is  followed  by  an  epilogue,  in  which  the  prophet 
acts  upon  the  new  revelation  by  a  solemn  coronation  of 
the  High  Priest  Joshua. 

The  latter  part  of  the  biblical  Zechariah  is  occupied, 
as  we  have  seen,  with  a  group  of  anonymous  prophecies. 
The  first  of  these  ]  might  be  entitled,  The  King  of  Peace. 
It  is  in  the  form  of  doom  prophecies:  the  monologue  of 
Jehovah  is  interrupted,  from  time  to  time,  by  lyric  out- 
bursts, confirming  or  celebrating  the  Divine  word.  One 
of  these  lyric  songs  justifies  the  suggested  title. 

Rejoice  greatly,  O  daughter  of  Zion; 

Shout,  O  daughter  of  Jerusalem  : 
Behold,  thy  King  cometh  unto  thee : 

He  is  just,  and  having  salvation; 
Lowly,  and  riding  upon  an  ass, 

Even  upon  a  colt,  the  foal  of  an  ass. 

The  second2  is  an  emblem  prophecy  —  The  With- 
drawal of  the  Divine  Shepherd.  Next3  follow  three 
Prophecies  of  the  Siege,  in  the  form  of  ordinary  dis- 
course. 

There  remains  the  book  entitled  Malachi.  This  has 
a  literary  form  almost  peculiar  to  itself.  It  might  be 
called  dialectic  prophecy  :  there  are  discourses  on  texts, 
but  the  texts  come  as  interruptions  from  the  audience 
addressed.     Sometimes  the  interruption  is  double. 

A  son  honoureth  his  father,  and  a  servant  his  master  :  if  then 
I  be  a  father,  where  is  mine  honour?  and  if  I  be  a  master, 
where  is  my  fear?  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts  unto  you,  O  priests, 
that  despise  my  name.  And  ye  say,  Wherein  have  we  despised 
thy  name  ?  Ye  offer  polluted  bread  upon  mine  altar.  And 
ye  say,  wherein  have  we  polluted  thee  ? 

1  Zechariah  ix.  i-xi.  3.  2  Chapter  xi  from  verse  4. 

3  Chapters  xii-xiv. 


OLD  TESTAMENT   PROPHECY  311 

It  is  the  italicised  questions  which  make  the  real  text  of 
the  discourse  :  its  topic  is  the  cheapening  of  the  offerings 
made  to  God,  the  idea  that  the  lame  and  blind,  not 
good  enough  for  the  governor,  are  good  enough  for  God  ! 
In  its  subject-matter  this  last  book  of  the  Old  Testament 
takes  us  so  far  forward  in  time  that  the  exile  seems  a 
thing  forgotten;  the  spiritualisation  of  Israel  brought 
about  by  captivity  has  already  begun  to  lose  its  force. 
There  is,  on  the  other  hand,  a  looking  for  a  Divine 
'Messenger'  to  come.  The  last  word  of  the  prophecy 
cites  the  promise  of  the  lawgiver  Moses,  that  a  prophet 
should  be  raised  up  like  unto  himself:  this  prophet,  says 
Malachi,  shall  come  as  precursor  to  the  great  and  terrible 
day  of  the  Lord. 


CHAPTER    X 

NEW  TESTAMENT   PROPHECY 

Prophecy  in  the  New  Testament  is  represented  by 
The  Book  of  Revelation.  As  this  is  not  only  the  last 
book  in  the  Bible,  and  the  final  work  remaining  for  our 
consideration,  but  is  also  the  portion  of  Scripture  in  the 
analysis  of  which  the  literary  element  is  found  to  be  most 
prominent,  it  may  be  not  amiss  to  review  at  this  point 
what,  in  application  to  such  a  work,  is  implied  in  literary 
study,  what  is  the  literary  factor  in  its  interpretation. 

We  are  dealing  with  a  work  of  prophecy  :  at  the  outset 
the  interpreter  must  free  himself  from  the  almost  universal 
popular  error,  that  in  prophetic  literature  prediction  of 
the  future  is  to  be  expected.  What  is  unveiled  may  be 
futurity  ;  but  the  revelation  may  be,  like  the  revelation  to 
Moses  in  the  mount,  an  unveiling  of  the  ideal  of  things, 
the  pattern  of  the  true.  The  common  misconception  is 
in  the  present  case  assisted  by  certain  phrases  that  occur 
in  the  title  page1  of  the  book  —  "the  things  which  must 
shortly  come  to  pass,"  —  "  for  the  time  is  at  hand."  But 
a  careful  reading  will  show  that  these  words  are  to  be 
understood,  not  as  a  part  of  the  revelation,  but  as  the 
writer's  (or  an  editor's)  comment  upon  the  book.  They 
are  simply  illustrations  of  an  idea  from  which  the  greatest 
of  the  apostles  were  not  free,  but  which  nevertheless  time 

1  Chapter  i.  1-3. 
312 


NEW  TESTAMENT   PROPHECY  313 

has  shown  to  be  no  part  of  their  apostolic  message  — 
that  the  coming  of  the  Lord  and  end  of  the  world  was 
immediately  at  hand. 

Again,  Revelation  is  a  poem.  We  have  seen !  how 
great  part  of  prophecy  is  poetry  in  the  strictest  sense  — 
creative  literature,  with  imaginative  scenes  and  incidents 
used  by  the  prophets  as  a  vehicle  for  conveying  the 
Divine  message  with  which  they  feel  themselves  inspired. 
For  reading  such  prophecy  there  is  needed,  not  only 
intelligence,  but  also  imagination  ;  unless  the  inward  eye 
has  caught  the  visionary  picture  in  all  its  fulness,  the  most 
acute  interpretative  power  will  be  applying  itself  to  the 
wrong  matter.  Accordingly,  the  interpreter  of  Revelatio7i 
should  have  prepared  himself  by  appreciation  of  the 
world's  greatest  poetry ;  he  should  have  studied  Milton 
and  Dante,  the  rhapsodies  in  the  books  of  Isaiah,  of  Joel, 
of  Habakkuk.  Above  all  he  should  have  mastered  the 
Visions  of  Zechariah  :  these,  with  their  dream  form,  dream 
within  dream,  and  visions  rising  one  out  of  another  like 
a  series  of  dissolving  views,  make  the  nearest  approach 
to  the  imaginative  impressions  of  the  New  Testament 
apocalypse. 

When  the  mental  pictures  have  been  fully  realised  they 
are  found  to  be  symbolic  in  their  significance  :  the  reader 
must  come  to  them  prepared  by  familiarity  with  figurative 
literature.  I  have  already  urged,-  as  a  foundation  princi- 
ple in  biblical  symbolism,  the  recognition  of  the  vision 
emblem  as  no  more  than  the  text  of  a  discourse  :  the 
truth  intended  to  be  symbolised  the  prophet  will  convey 
by  his  words  of  comment.  This  principle  must  be  applied 
even  to  the  most  extended  visions.     Thus,  when  Ezekiel 

1  Above,  page  123.  2  Above,  page  296. 


314  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND   PROSE 

has  his  Vision  of  Jerusalem  in  her  Pollutions,  we  are  not 
to  understand  that  the  eye  of  the  prophet  was  miraculously 
opened  to  see  what  was  actually  going  on  in  the  Temple 
at  Jerusalem  at  the  very  moment.  So  far  from  this  being 
the  case,  as  the  vision  progresses  the  prophet  himself 
becomes  a  part  of  it :  Ezekiel,  by  the  banks  of  the  Chebar, 
is  commanded  to  prophesy  to  the  idolaters  in  Jerusalem, 
and  as  (in  his  vision)  he  prophesies  Pelatiah  falls  dead 
before  his  ministry.  From  beginning  to  end  all  that 
Ezekiel  sees  is  an  emblem  —  supernaturally  presented  — 
of  the  real  truth  :  how  the  land  and  people  of  Jehovah 
are  defiling  themselves  with  foreign  idolatries,  and  judg- 
ment is  at  the  door.  If  this  principle  of  interpretation  is 
correct,  it  will  be  seen  at  once  how  important  is  its  appli- 
cation to  such  a  book  as  Revelation.  Many  readers  look 
upon  the  apocalypse  as  a  prophetic  riddle  :  if  only  they 
can  guess  the  enigmatic  language,  they  think  they  will 
have  learned  the  secret  of  the  end  of  the  world,  or  will 
be  able  to  place  their  own  age  in  a  map  of  all  time.  But 
even  if  we  assume  that  it  is  futurity  which  is  being  re- 
vealed, and  if  we  suppose  that  we  have  construed  the 
enigmatic  sentences,  even  then  what  we  have  attained 
is,  not  the  events  themselves,  but  only  an  emblem  text,  a 
vision  incident  which  prophecy  may  apply  to  its  discus- 
sion of  what  is  to  come. 

We  have  seen  in  previous  studies  how  structural  analy- 
sis has  an  important  place  in  interpretation.  There  are, 
in  the  case  of  Revelation,  two  points  peculiarly  charac- 
teristic of  Hebrew  literary  form.  One  is  obvious  to 
every  reader  :  the  way  in  which  sevenfold  division  and 
subdivision  penetrates  every  part  of  the  book.  The  other 
is    at    once    more    important  and   easier  to    miss.     Our 


NKW   TKSTAMKXT    PR(  >PHD  Y 


315 


analysis  of  the  rhapsody  of  Joel  (to  take  the  most  promi- 
nent example)  illustrated  the  tendency  of  Hebrew  poetry 
to  find  its  climax  at  the  centre  rather  than  at  the  end. 
In  Revelation  the  same  type  of  movement  is  exhibited, 
the  central  stage  of  the  seven  forming,  as  it  were,  the 
keystone  of  an  arch. 

4.  Salvation:  The  Kingdom  of 
the    World     becoming    the 
Kingdom  of  Christ 
xi.  19-xv.  4. 

3.  The  Seven  Trum- 
pets :  Judgment  Im- 
perfect and  the 
Mystery  of  Prophecy 


The  Seven  Golden 
Bowls :  Judgment 
Consummated  and 
the  Mystery  of  Baby- 


viii.  5-xi.  18. 

2.   The  Seven  Seals  : 
Judgment  Potential 
vi-viii.  4. 

I.   The  Sealed  Book  and 
the  Lamb 

iv-v. 


Ion 


xv.   5-xix.  4. 

The  Word  of  God  : 

Judgment  Enthroned 

xix.  5-xx. 

7.    The     Lamb's     Bride, 
and  the  New  Jerusa- 


lem 


xxi-xxn.  5. 


It  is  easy  to  see  how  important  a  bearing  such  struc- 
tural analysis  will  have  upon  interpretation  ;  .and  how  one 
who  has  ignored  it  may  be  seeking  at  the  end  of  the  poem 
for  the  climax  thought  which  he  has  passed  by  unobserved 
at  the  centre. 

Yet  another  consideration  must  be  borne  in  mind 
before  we  have  completely  stated  the  literary  factor  in 
the  interpretation  of  the  apocalypse.  It  is  written  that 
"  The  testimony  of  Jesus  is  the  spirit  of  prophecy  "  ;  these 


316  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND   PROSE 

words  not  only  convey  a  truth  of  theology,  but  also  in- 
dicate what  is  a  notable  literary  feature  of  the  book. 
Revelation  is  full  of  symbolism  :  but  upon  examination 
it  will  be  found  that  scarcely  a  single  symbol  is  new. 
The  figurative  ideas  of  the  Old  Testament  prophets  are 
borrowed,  and  transfigured  in  the  borrowing  :  they  are 
intensified,  massed  together,  associated  with  new  appli- 
cations :  so  many  prophetic  gems  combined  in  a  diadem 
of  light  with  which  to  crown  a  supreme  prophecy.  Now 
this  use  of  borrowed  materials  is  a  distinguishing  feature 
of  that  type  of  poetry  which  is  called,  in  the  strictest  sense 
of  the  word,  '  classical.'  What  we  know  as  Homer  has 
been  built  up  out  of  ballad  poetry  which  has  otherwise 
perished.  The  Roman  poets  adapt  Homeric  details  to  a 
new  legend,  or  reproduce  the  idyllic  scenes  of  the  Greek 
Theocritus  scarcely  veiled  in  their  Italian  dress.  Dante 
in  his  turn  echoes  Virgil;  Spenser  will  be  found  almost 
translating  Tasso ;  Milton  makes  his  phrases  and  incidents 
recall  all  his  predecessors,  with  additional  echoes  from 
the  poetry  of  the  Bible.  The  classical  poets  thus  form  a 
sort  of  apostolic  succession  in  literature,  each  resting  his 
claim  to  poetic  power  on  the  use  of  what  he  has  received 
from  his  predecessors.  But  if  this  echoing  of  past  litera- 
ture is  a  regular  feature  of  one  type  of  poetry,  there  has 
never  been  such  an  opportunity  for  it  as  in  The  Book  of 
Revelation,  where  it  ministers  to  the  supremacy  of  the 
theme.  The  writer  of  this  apocalypse  seems  to  feel  that 
no  symbol  can  be  sacred  enough  for  his  use  unless  it  has 
been  hallowed  by  associations  with  the  prophecy  of  the 
past.  There  is  thus  a  further  burden  laid  upon  the 
interpreter  :  when  the  symbol  has  been  caught,  he  must 
draw  in  all  its  echoes  from  the  prophetic  literature  of  the 


NEW  TESTAMENT    PROPH®  V  317 

old  dispensation,  before  he  has  attained  the  fulness  of  its 
significance. 

We  have  before  us,  then,  a  sevenfold  vision,  prefaced 
by  addresses  to  the  seven  churches,  with  an  epilogue  of 
seven  last  words ;  the  seven  visions  rising  one  out  of  the 
other  like  dissolving  views ;  all  made  up  of  visible  em- 
blems which  are  echoes  from  the  prophecy  of  the  past ; 
while  in  the  central  vision  of  the  seven  is  to  be  sought 
the  foundation  truth  upon  which  the  whole  is  to  rest. 

The  prologue  gives  but  a  flash  of  the  glory  which  is 
to  come.  The  seer  is  in  the  lonely  isle  of  Patmos,  as 
Ezekiel  had  been  lonely  by  the  river  Chebar.  Suddenly 
the  ushering  trumpet  arrests  his  attention,  and  there  is 
before  his  gaze  such  a  form  as  Daniel  had  once  seen  : 
the  head  and  hair  white  as  wool,  the  golden  girdle,  the 
feet  of  burnished  brass.  All  about  are  symbols  of  old 
prophecy  intensified  :  the  golden  candlestick,  which  had 
figured  to  Zechariah  the  completion  of  the  Jewish  church, 
has  become  seven  candlesticks  for  the  multiplied  churches 
of  the  new  dispensation  ;  the  morning  stars,  which  had 
been  world  rulers  in  Job,  are  now  the  angels  of  the  seven 
churches.  What  is  spoken  takes  form  from  an  ancient 
prophecy  :  as  Amos  was  commissioned  with  words  to  the 
seven  guilty  nations  —  particular  denunciations  of  each, 
with  recurring  formulae  of  doom  —  so  John  is  to  transmit 
the  particular  messages  to  the  seven  churches  of  Asia, 
while  each  message  is  framed  round  with  refrains,  or  with 
fragments  of  the  vision  which  is  coming.1 

1  Allusions  to  Old  Testament  symbolism  in  Revelation  are  too 
numerous  to  be  indicated  here  by  references.  This  element  of  interpre- 
tation is  worked  out  in  detail  in  the  St.  John  volume  of  The  Modern 
Reader  s  Bible,  pages  196-215. 


318  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

When  we  pass  from  the  prologue  to  the  actual  revela- 
tion, heaven  itself  has  opened  :  all  has  vanished  except  a 
region  where  is  neither  space  nor  time.  What  Ezekiel 
saw  in  its  moving  radiancy  is  before  us  in  its  eternal 
splendour  of  repose  :  the  Throne  of  Deity,  rising  out  of 
the  crystalline  sea.  He  who  sits  on  the  throne  is  lost 
in  impenetrable  brightness,  fringed  with  rainbow  glory. 
Around  are  gradations  of  power,  elders  grouped  about 
the  ancient  of  days.  Powers  of  nature  are  there  : 
thunders  and  lightnings  and  voices  proceeding  out  of 
the  throne.  There,  too,  are  powers  of  the  mechanism 
that  executes  :  what  Ezekiel  saw  as  wheel  within  wheel 
here  appears  as  seven  lamps  of  fire  burning  before  the 
throne,  and  these  Zechariah's  vision  enables  us  to  under- 
stand as  emanations  from  heaven  that  become  ministries 
on  earth.  Powers  of  life  are  added  :  no  single  creature  of 
earth  is  seen,  but  there  are  wings  that  wave,  eyes  that 
flash,  forms  that  distinguish.  And  the  whole  is  one 
ceaseless  round  of  adoration,  stretching  from  eternity 
to  eternity. 

But  the  vision  modifies  itself  to  the  eye  of  the  seer,  and 
in  the  hands  of  him  that  sits  upon  the  throne  is  a  book, 
a  sealed  book,  a  book  sealed  with  seven  seals.  In  the 
intensity  of  dream  emotion  the  seer  is  weeping  that  none 
is  found  worthy  to  unseal  the  book,  when  a  comforting 
voice  cries  that  the  Lion  of  the  Tribe  of  Judah  is  worthy 
to  open  the  mystery.  This  echo  from  the  old  Blessing 
of  Jacob  is  still  in  our  ears,  when  there  follows  a  great 
surprise  :  no  lion,  but  "  a  Lamb,  standing  as  though  it  had 
been  slain."  We  recall  at  once  the  central  vision  of  the 
Isaiahan  rhapsody  —  one  led  as  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter, 
and  the  Baptist's  application  of  this  to  the  Lamb  of  God 


NEW  TESTAMENT   PROPHECY  319 

that  taketh  away  the  sins  of  the  world.  The  adoration 
of  heaven  is  transferred  to  this  new  figure,  in  the  seven- 
fold blessing  that  attributes  the  power  and  riches  and  wis- 
dom and  might  and  honour  and  glory  and  blessing  to  the 
Lamb  that  hath  been  slain  ;  while  a  new  symbol  is  seen 
—  bowls  full  of  rising  incense,  which  the  seer  knows  to 
be  the  prayers  of  the  saints  ascending  to  heaven.  So  the 
first  vision  dissolves  into  the  second,  with  but  two  ideas 
standing  prominent :  the  seals  of  mystery,  and  the  slain 
Lamb  through  whom  alone  they  may  be  opened. 

With  the  second  vision  we  have  the  unsealing  of  the 
seven  seals.  Powers  of  judgment  appear,  but  the  judg- 
ment is  not  to  be  seen  in  execution.  There  is  an  echo 
of  Jeremiah's  refrain  : '  — 

Such  as  are  for  death,  to  death;  and  such  as  are  for  the 
sword,  to  the  sword;  and  such  as  are  for  the  famine,  to  the 
famine;   and  such  as  are  for  captivity,  to  captivity. 

The  visible  emblems  are  from  Zechariah's  vision  of 
horses  —  red,  sorrel,  and  white  —  that  were  to  be  executing 
ministries  on  earth.  But  here  each  colour  has  a  mystic 
significance.  As  the  first  seal  is  opened  there  rides  forth 
the  white  horse  ;  the  bow  and  crown  proclaim  its  rider 
the  conqueror  that  takes  captive.  As  the  second  seal  is 
opened  we  see  the  red  horse  of  war  and  slaughter.  With 
the  third  seal  is  seen  the  rider  on  the  black  horse  :  the 
balance  he  holds  in  his  hand  has  been  familiar  in  Ezekiel's 
prophecies  as  symbol  of  the  careful  weighing  of  food  in 
famine.  There  follows,  at  the  fourth  seal,  the  pale  horse 
and  his  rider  Death,  Hades  attending.  When  the  fifth 
seal  is  opened  we  hear  —  as  in  Zechariah's  visions  —  the 

1  Chapter  xv.  2. 


320  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

souls  beneath  the  altar  of  martyrdom  crying,  How  long? 
To  each  individual  is  given  the  white  robe,  but  for  their 
common  judgment  they  are  to  wait  until  their  martyr 
brethren  shall  have  been  fulfilled.  With  the  opening  of 
the  sixth  seal  we  have  gathered  from  all  over  the  field  of 
prophetic  literature  the  signs  that  speak  the  very  moment 
preceding  doom  :  Joel's  darkened  sun  and  blood-red 
moon ;  Isaiah's  folding  of  the  heavens  like  a  scroll, 
mountains  and  islands  fleeing  out  of  their  places,  great 
and  small  hiding  in  caves  and  rocks ;  Hosea's  cries  to 
mountains  and  hills  to  make  a  cover  from  the  coming 
wrath.  But  at  this  point  —  with  an  echo  from  Ezekiel's 
vision  of  Jerusalem  —  the  coming  doom  is  held  back; 
not  a  breath  is  to  blow  upon  the  earth  until  the  servants 
of  God  have  been  sealed  on  their  foreheads.  In  orderly 
ritual  the  sealing  proceeds,  of  one  tribe  twelve  thousand, 
and  of  another  and  another.  At  last  the  bonds  of  ritual 
are  broken  through  by  a  great  surprise  —  a  multitude  that 
no  man  can  number,  out  of  every  nation,  tribe,  people, 
tongue  :  all  arrayed  in  white  robes,  with  palms  in  their 
hands.  It  is  told  how  these  are  they  that  came  out  of 
the  great  tribulation,  and  washed  their  robes  white  in  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb.  The  words  of  description  mingle 
with  prophetic  strains  that  once  glorified  the  exiles  re- 
turning to  Zion  : 1  — 

They  shall  hunger  no  more,  neither  thirst  any  more;  neither 
shall  the  sun  strike  upon  them,  nor  any  heat :  for  the  Lamb 
which  is  in  the  midst  of  the  throne  shall  be  their  shepherd, 
and  shall  guide  them  unto  fountains  of  waters  of  life. 

Now  only  may  the  seventh  seal  be  opened.  There  falls 
upon  the  heavenly  scene  a  great  silence  :   the  silence  of 

1  Compare  Isaiah  xlix.  10. 


NEW  TESTAMENT   PROPHECY  321 

expectation,  a  pointing  ever  onward,  as  vision  succeeds 
vision,  the  whole  approaching  the  central  climax. 

The  third  vision  displays  the  seven  angels  with  the  seven 
trumpets  of  doom  :  we  instinctively  think  of  the  falling 
walls  of  Jericho,  of  the  blast  which  ushered  in  Joel's  day  of 
darkness  and  terror.  Now  judgment  is  to  advance  :  and 
yet  at  every  point  we  are  to  see  a  mystic  limitation  and 
imperfection  of  judgment.  With  the  sounding  of  the  first 
trumpet  the  plagues  of  Egypt  appear  intensified  —  hail 
and  fire,  mingled  with  blood,  are  cast  upon  the  earth  : 
and  yet  but  a  third  part  of  the  earth  is  burnt  up.  The 
second  angel  sounds,  and  the  burning  mountain  imagined 
by  Jeremiah  is  cast  into  the  sea  :  yet  but  a  third  part  of 
what  the  sea  holds  is  destroyed.  With  the  sounding  of 
the  third  trumpet  Jeremiah's  star  Wormwood  falls  upon 
the  third  part  of  the  rivers  and  fountains,  carrying  bitter- 
ness in  its  train ;  another  sounding,  and  a  third  part  of 
the  heavenly  bodies  is  darkened.  Four  times  judgment 
has  descended  from  above ;  when  the  next  angel  sounds 
his  trumpet  judgment  breaks  out  from  beneath.  The 
abyss  of  fire  opens,  and  in  the  spreading  clouds  of  smoke 
are  involved  clouds  of  such  mystic  locust  hosts  as  Joel  had 
seen  in  his  vision  :  yet  even  these  are  restrained,  that  they 
may  torment,  but  must  not  kill.  With  the  sixth  sounding 
judgment  appears  at  Euphrates  —  mystic  centre  of  the 
earth  —  and  spreads  along  the  four  winds  :  but,  though 
the  number  of  the  visionary  horsemen  is  twice  ten  thou- 
sand times  ten  thousand,  yet  they  are  to  exercise  their 
power  upon  only  the  third  part  of  men. 

At  this  point  the  whole  movement  intensifies.  The 
angel  of  strength  is  seen,  arrayed  in  cloud,  crowned  with 
rainbow ;  his  mighty  stride  takes  in  earth  and  sea ;  when 


322  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

he  speaks,  not  trumpets,  but  the  seven  thunders,  utter 
their  voices.  Yet  there  is  again  a  restraining  :  the  seer  is 
to  seal  up  and  write  not  what  the  thunders  utter.  The 
sense  of  restraint  is  the  greater,  since  already  it  has  been 
sworn,  by  Him  that  liveth  forever,  that,  as  soon  as  the 
seventh  angel  shall  have  sounded  his  trumpet,  then  is 
finished  the  mystery  of  God  according  to  the  good  tid- 
ings which  he  declared  to  his  servants  the  prophets. 
But  —  with  an  echo  from  the  experience  of  Ezekiel  — 
the  seer  takes  from  the  angel  the  little  book,  sweet  as 
honey  in  the  mouth,  but  bitter  when  swallowed  ;  he  must 
"  prophesy  again  over  many  peoples  and  nations  and 
tongues  and  kings."  Mystic  words  are  thus  spoken, 
through  which  are  breaking  memories  of  the  past :  the 
measuring  reed  of  Ezekiel's  vision  Temple,  the  olive 
trees  and  candlesticks  of  Zechariah  ;  power  to  shut  up 
heaven  that  it  rain  not,  as  in  the  days  of  Elijah  ;  powers 
to  turn  water  into  blood,  as  in  the  days  of  Moses ;  mar- 
tyrdoms in  the  Jerusalem  that  killeth  the  prophets  ;  breath 
entering  into  dry  bones  such  as  Ezekiel  saw  in  his 
vision;  ascents  like  Elijah's  to  heaven.  It  is  gradually 
borne  in  upon  our  minds  how  this  third  vision,  with  its 
mysterious  limitations  of  judgment,  is  bound  up  with  the 
imperfect  glory  of  the  law  and  the  prophets,  and  of  those 
who  without  them  that  were  to  come  could  not  be  made 
perfect.  Just  when  we  are  filled  with  this  thought  is 
heard  the  sounding  of  the  seventh  trumpet,  and  all  heaven 
shouts  the  master  idea  of  the  whole  Revelation :  — 

The  Kingdom  of  the  World  is  become  the  Kingdom 
of  Our  Lord,  and  of  his  Christ  :  and  he  shall  reign 
for  ever  and  ever  ! 

The  mystery  of  prophecy  is  to  be  unsealed  in  Christ. 


NEW  TESTAMENT   PROPHECY  323 

We  thus  pass  to  the  central  section  and  climax  of  the 
Revelation  ;  other  visions  are  visions  of  judgment,  but 
this  keystone  of  the  arch  is  to  be  called  by  the  name  of 
Salvation,  and  it  presents  the  kingdom  of  the  world 
becoming  the  kingdom  of  Christ.  The  seven  visions,  it 
must  be  understood,  are  not  bound  together  by  temporal 
succession  ;  each  displays  a  world  process  complete  in 
itself.  So  this  contest  between  the  world  and  Christ 
must  be  traced  through  all  its  seven  stages.  The  first 
origin  of  this  contest  is  symbolised  where  we  have  Isaiah's 
sign  of  the  woman  with  child  presented  in  glorified  form, 
while  over  against  her  is  the  great  dragon  —  the  serpent 
of  Genesis  —  intensified  with  monstrous  heads  and  dia- 
dems, waiting  to  devour  what  shall  be  born.  The  second 
phase  is  a  contest  in  heaven  :  Michael  and  his  angels 
warring  with  the  dragon,  who  draws  with  him  a  third  part 
of  the  stars  of  heaven  as  he  is  cast  to  the  earth.  Now  it 
becomes  a  contest  on  earth,  the  dragon  persecuting  the 
woman  who  had  borne  the  mystic  child  ;  the  primitive 
imagery,  that  figured  the  perpetual  contest  between  the 
winding  serpent  of  the  water  and  the  land  it  encircles, 
which  more  than  once  is  the  subject  of  allusions  in  The 
Book  of  Job,  is  here  echoed  in  the  earth  opening  its 
mouth  to  swallow  up  the  river  cast  by  the  dragon  against 
the  woman.  For  a  fourth  phase  of  the  contest  the 
opposition  of  the  world  to  Christ  takes  the  form  of 
organised  and  concentrated  power,  the  brute  force  of  such 
beasts  as  Daniel  saw  rising  out  of  the  sea  :  details  like  the 
seven  heads  give  vague  hints  of  actual  world  powers  that 
may  illustrate  this  type  of  opposition.  A  stage  further  is 
seen  in  the  beast  with  "  two  horns  like  unto  a  lamb."  Here 
the  symbolism  of  the  two  sides  of  the  contest  has  become 


324  BIBLICAL   POETRY   AND    PROSE 

entangled,  and  we  think  of  the  spiritual  making  common 
cause  with  worldly  power,  in  superstition  or  false  religion  ; 
the  new  monster  is  a  beast-like  prophet  of  the  beast.  At 
the  sixth  stage  are  seen  the  followers  of  the  Lamb 
arrayed  for  warfare  :  they  are  sealed  with  the  mystic 
name,  and  sing  the  song  none  know  but  themselves;  it  is 
as  the  sound  of  thunder  for  fulness,  yet  he  who  listens 
hears  it  as  the  voice  of  harpers  harping  with  their  harps. 
Voices  of  expectancy  usher  in  the  final  phase  of  the 
vision  :  the  white  cloud,  and  on  it  one  like  to  a  son  of 
man;  the  casting  to  the  earth  of  the  sickle  in  token  of 
the  hour  of  reaping.  But  Joel's  figure  of  the  sickle  is 
insufficient :  with  echoes  from  Isaiah  we  see  the  vintage 
gathered  into  the  winepress  of  the  wrath  of  God,  and 
the  stream  of  blood  from  this  winepress  reaches  to  the 
bridles  of  the  horses.  Now  the  crystalline  sea  flushes 
with  the  hue  of  victory,  and  the  vision  culminates  in  the 
'Song  of  Moses  and  the  Lamb.'  When  the  first  deliver- 
ance of  a  people  of  God,  beside  the  Red  Sea,  has  thus 
been  joined  to  the  final  triumph  of  the  saints,  the  whole 
range  of  salvation  has  been  traversed. 

The  descending  movement  of  the  arch  is  a  tribute  to 
the  spirit  of  symmetry  pervading  Hebrew  poetry  :  what- 
ever has  been  left  unfinished  must  now  be  gathered  up  and 
brought  to  completion.  The  fifth  vision  supplements  the 
third  :  there  judgment  was  seen  imperfect,  now,  the  key 
of  all  world  mystery  having  been  given,  judgment  may  be 
consummated.  The  seven  trumpets  are  replaced  by  the 
seven  golden  bowls  —  what  in  the  old  prophecies  appeared 
as  the  cup  of  the  Lord's  fury.  Four  times  judgment  again 
descends  from  above ;  it  comes  again  from  beneath,  and 
at  central  Euphrates  :  but  from  first  to  last  there  is  no 


NEW  TESTAMENT   PROI1IIECY  325 

note  of  limit  or  imperfection.  As  the  seventh  bowl  is 
poured  forth  there  is  a  cry,  It  is  done  :  and  the  world 
process  of  this  vision  is  expounded  as  the  Mystery  of 
Babylon.  The  vivid  details  begin  with  the  actual 
Babylon  of  history,  theme  of  so  many  prophetic  dooms ; 
soon  there  intermingle  pictures  of  maritime  glory  and 
weeping  merchants  that  recall  the  doom  of  Tyre  ;  when 
other  hints  follow,  the  suggestion  is  clear  that  the  pro- 
phetic Babylon  covers  every  power  that  exalts  itself 
against  the  kingship  of  Christ. 

As  the  fifth  vision  points  back  to  the  third,  so  does  the 
sixth  to  the  second  ;  judgment  there  was  but  potential, 
now  it  is  to  be  seen  enthroned.  We  have  now  but  one 
horse,  for  he  who  rides  is  the  Word  of  God,  King  of 
Kings  and  Lord  of  Lords  :  he  hath  another  name  none 
can  know  but  himself.  Before  his  victorious  course  all 
forms  of  opposition  disappear.  At  last  is  seen  the  great 
white  throne,  and  (as  in  Daniel's  vision)  the  opening  of 
books  of  doom  :  earth  and  heaven  flee  away,  the  dead 
are  judged,  Death  and  Hades  are  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire 
—  the  death  to  which  Death  itself  is  destined. 

The  opening  of  the  Revelation  had  displayed  the 
eternal  repose  of  Deity,  without  one  disturbing  ripple 
of  the  mystery  that  craves  solution.  At  the  close  we 
return  to  a  vision  of  peace  —  the  peace  that  lies  on  the 
further  side  of  judgment.  There  is  new  heaven  and  new 
earth  ;  a  new  Jerusalem  descending  from  above.  Ezekiel's 
vision,  with  its  many  symmetries,  provides  fit  framework 
for  the  new  commonwealth  of  God.  But  fairer  figures 
are  added.  From  the  Isaiahan  rhapsody  comes  the 
thought  of  Jerusalem  as  the  bride  of  the  Lamb,  adorned 
as  spouse  for  Him  who  is  now  to  tabernacle  with  men. 


326  BIBLICAL    POLTRY    AND    PROSE 

From  the  same  source  is  the  vision  of  glorious  purity  — 
the  city's  foundations  of  precious  stones,  her  gates  of 
pearl,  her  pavement  of  transparent  gold.  Ezekiel  has 
furnished  the  figure  of  the  water  of  life  proceeding  out  of 
the  throne  to  water  the  city.  One  final  symbol  comes  as 
echo  from  the  earliest  symbol  of  Genesis :  transplanted 
from  Eden  the  tree  of  life  spreads  healing  leaves  beside 
the  river.  In  a  brightness  that  knows  no  night,  and  no 
sun  but  the  Lamb  himself,  the  visions  of  the  Revelation 
reach  their  close. 

There  remains  the  epilogue  of  the  Seven  Last  Words. 
The  central  word  of  the  seven  is  this  :  — 

I  am  the  Alpha   and  the   Omega,  the  first  and  the  last,  the 
beginning  and  the  end. 

This  word  is  the  unifying  thought  of  the  whole  book  :  nay, 
of  the  whole  Bible.  The  Revelation  of  St.  John  is  the 
meeting  ground  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament ;  what 
binds  the  long  succession  of  books  —  by  so  many  authors, 
of  so  many  different  ages  —  into  a  unity  is  expressed  by 
the  saying  that  the  testimony  of  Jesus  is  the  spirit  of 
prophecy.  The  whole  of  prophetic  literature  yields  its 
imaginative  figures  to  adorn  this  final  Revelation ;  all  his- 
tory is  made  one  by  the  central  thought  of  the  kingdom 
of  the  world  becoming  the  kingdom  of  Christ. 


APPENDICES 


GENERAL   REMARKS 

It  must  be  understood  that  these  appendices  are  dealing 
solely  with  the  literary  study  of  Scripture  as  defined  in  this 
work.  For  theological  or  historic  studies,  students  should 
seek  information  from  authorities  with  whom  they  are  in 
agreement :  literary  study  is  common  ground  between  all 
schools  of  thought. 

An  essential  of  literary  study  is  a  properly  printed  text, 
which  presents  literary  structure  clearly  to  the  eye.  This,  which 
is  taken  for  granted  in  all  other  literature,  is  not  given  by 
versions  of  the  Bible  in  ordinary  use.  To  meet  this  difficulty 
The  Modern  Reader 's  Bible  has  been  prepared,  which  prints 
the  words  of  the  Revised  Version  in  full  structural  form,  with 
introductions  and  notes.  The  whole  Bible,  with  part  of  the 
Apocrypha,  is  covered  by  twenty-one  volumes,  which  may  be 
procured  separately,  or  all  together.1  The  volumes  are  as 
follows  :  — 

Genesis  —  The  Exodus  —  Deuteronomy  —  The  Judges  —  The 
Kings  —  The  Chronicles. 

Proverbs  —  Ecclesiasticus  —  Ecclesiastes  and  Wisdom  of  Solo- 
mon—  Job. 

The  Psalms  [two  volumes] — Biblical  Idyls  [containing 
Solomon 's  Song,  Ruth,  Esther,  and  Tobif] . 

1  Macmillan,  London  and  New  York.  Price  of  each  volume  : 
(English),  cloth,  2/6;  (American),  cloth,  50  cents,  leather,  60 
cents.  In  the  American  edition  the  twenty-one  volumes  may  be 
procured  in  a  case;  price:  (cloth),  $10;  (leather),  $12.60. 
[Note  :  There  are  three  additional  volumes  (see  below,  pages  353 
and  354)   not  included  in  this  case.] 

329 


330  APPENDICES 

Isaiah  —  Jeremiah  —  Ezekiel  —  Daniel  and  the  Minor  Prophets. 
St.  Luke  and  St.  Paul  [two  volumes]  —  St.  John  —  St.  Mat- 
thew, etc. 

Of  the  ordinary  versions,  the  Revised  is  essential  for  literary 
study.  It  inherits,  and  often  enhances,  the  beauty  of  phrase- 
ology which  distinguished  King  James's  Version,  and  further, 
gives  a  connectedness  of  thought  which  was  little  sought  by 
the  earlier  translators.  If  this  version  be  used,  it  will  be  well 
to  mark  with  a  lead  pencil  in  the  margin  the  divisions  of 
literary  works  in  Scripture,  such  as  may  be  collected  from 
Appendix  I. 

Apart  from  formal  study,  it  is  suggested  that  in  ordinary 
reading  of  Scripture  selections  should  be  made  with  the  as- 
sistance of  Appendix  I  (or  similar  reading  lists),  and  not  by 
the  misleading  divisions  of  chapter  and  verse  in  the  old 
versions. 


APPENDIX    I 

BIBLE    READING 

ARRANGED   TO   ACCOMPANY  THE    PRESENT  VOLUME 


■f. 


= 


- 


APPEND!*  ES  333 


~     O     rt  ~ 

I  £  S  5  •§ 


-r   ._-    o  j:  ■— 


W        k5 


cd 

jO 

u 

: 

— 

H 

4J 

= 

r. 

1 

u 

: 

1 

I 

1 

ir. 

I 

i    i 

2 

P 

1 — i 
> 

i 

--; 

*A 

'3 

1 

CO 

_;_ 

> 

u 

X 

— 1 



1 1 

y. 

i i 

CN) 

s 
3 

a 


■  1  =  C1  I 

HM                      ?»      'S  "t  **">                                                                       I 1      =  , 

«          I    -  'g  g>  O  g    :=  "  £    8    >    O 

•s  <-  <  £  6  8  R,  a  -  -s  Aja 

M             ~kjU  I  *       -.    ~  w     O     S    M 

fc       ro  "c  ~  .-  N  i    iSfi-S    i 

/3           >    *.  o  r^ 


c 


w     ^      *;  h  tg-       ^  w       «~  M  *•  c  ♦*  * 

5       x        °Q    ..;   «  ^  d  3  *-•  S   {3   S  rg 

<  <  _     J8      «  O  rW      ~  5     t/i   VJ 


2  u  -c   ._    tx  JL£  _ 


W        1   g    g     I    «         «    2  £ 


ri 


S 


S 


<  C  ^  Lh  c 


cfl  O 


O 


C  M 


p<       S    .    ..         J2  S  • 

O       >       «  2  §    •  7 

fe       3  i  |         £  g  g  oi 


^    o 


cs    NO    I I 


£         **  -5        °     .    * 


334 


APPENDICES 


1 

a 

1 

z 

u- 

Ui 

r^ 

1 — 
O 

3 
x 

i — i 
O 
t 
1 

od 

o 

B 
u 

c 

03 

x 
1 

-5 

ed 

Q 

ed 

o 

_j 

X 

s 

ex, 

X 

a 
a 

c3 

— 

S 

X 

1 

1 

o 

X 

— 
O 

'o 
o 

> 

1 1 

i — i 

1 — 1 

l 

X 

— 

'-!. 

!> 

M 

> 

X 

'x 

X 

1 1 

"55 

c 

| 

= 

X 

:- 

c 

•— 

X 

1 

X 

X 

V 

i — i 

</) 

I 

X 

c 
o 

1 

:H 

_0J 

"fr 

x 

| 

3 

'x 

s 

'S 

fO 

'J 

I 

x 

•  — 

X 

^ 

I 

— i 

i i 

Xi 

a 

u 

C 

"o 

> 

X 

x 

. — i 

1 1 

cd 

'3 

X 

1 

w 

c-i 

rt 

1      ' 

1 

CO 

LO 

fi 

ed 

•—' 

_> 

1-1 

<— 

; 

t— < 

3 

'> 

x 

Q 

0) 

o 

CS 

x 

1 

x 

"rt 

— 

cd 

u 

— 

X 

X 

O       B      C       B    T" 


w    "    5    5    >  — 

.  ■«-»    T3     rt     \Z     X     o 

3      CJO    > 


^  i— i'x  .«>  £  o  oj 

x    cn  x  r-    S    es    «s 

1—1        «      I 1    A        1/3      «— >    i— 


b» 

O 

H 

W 

a> 

.d 

H 


> 

:d 

oo 

X 

.^ 

, 

/~s 

j2 

c 

6 

"* 

rt 

<a 

ON 

o 

H 

m 

ro 

^ 

i 

i i 

o 

to 

■^ 

> 
X 

X 

^-^ 

O 

W 

r£ 

H 

u_ 

£ 

. 

CO 

O 

rt 

<u 

tn 

>r. 

<u 

'x 

3 

'1 

00 

O 

rt 

c* 

aj 


_o 

z; 

c 
o 

U 


c 
.2 

rt 
u 

bit 


u 

c 


o 


O 
H 


s 

o     > 

O      X 


i—i  ^rt     "     N 
u-)  Ph    .„• 


I       X 

i — i     I 
-      > 

M  X 

■s. 
x 


o 


</)      X 


9J     — 


x 

X 

I 

<^  >  - 

x    'x     p 
x      I     -fl 

— '    N       3 
05       N 


rt        « 

c   o 


X 


^ 


S 


~     o     p     * 


v    O       . 
x 


I    i i 


I         ° 


<u 


s. 

t-H 

z 

a 

d     .   C  r« 

O     >    "-1    j 
rt      -      Q 


ci    "S  X  ' 

g       g  89  B 

=    5  S  a 

>  "  w 


a;    o 


X 


-    ^5 


o    o 


rt    g 

c    > 


«        rt        O        g        C 

fi   J  «  ^   ^ 

>         I  I       rW.         I 


APPENDICES  335 


cd 

3 

pq 


o   "C    o    o    u 

3  JS     ^3 


** 


'    S  ^  « 

>    c  — 
?    o    a 

.1    '  i — i  :>  c 

I — '  "S  's- 


336  APPENDICES 


°  .5    5  2    "*"  I    o   S    I   > 

I  3  Jj        8  =  «  I  <  -  8 


Q  5 


h  ^  i:  ,, 


£      OM  £ 


Td 


H  -3  -  JL    £  o     '     c  &    L 


£    B 


I/-, 


•fr   T1   3 


■~     I 


.1  < 


ij    u    ,:         .S     •  ,' ' — '  o  -5    <» 

8    -ol-lls  ft  |   3  1 

bo      £   ^  -9    !<    -     i  I    w    S 


e«s  ^  !  a  s 2         ^    ^^ri,2| 

^       </}••<«  ±J       .  efl  "^    S    ^~    £    <*+ 

/■\  ^— '      .     1  *i       4_>  K         r«      l_  J    . .      W 


O 


O 


a 


o 


13         ~    W    "S    £     ^     °  C  0    £ 

rt         3    ^     o   p     ^  i  >  C  )    o 

£       o  '^  H    -To  H  *  uo 

"         I    fe           I      ^>j  o  ■*-' 

5     oj                    eS    ±!  iT  H  "     c 

S     -  •                o  to  J«    <u 

s 

qj     4->      > 

O      O      X 


O      I     —  S    S3 


.9  5  u  ™    _  p 


o 

> 

to 

1 

1 

#> 

N 

L_i 

rt 

M 

:~ 

U 

M 

*t 

S 

< 

"8 

M 

c 

M 

s 

^J 

ESc 

•— 

H 

rt 

<— 

pq 

o 

-d 

c 

c 

cd 

— 

B 

i-i 

o 

7 

.a 

vi  ^  -   o    S   S  «         .9-  „  3  .1  5P  S 


•7"     i-     X     w 


>  -.  U  W       J  ►» 

r>     ^     f>       i»  ••>  t4-i     ^ 


s   s  ^ 


APPENDIC1  -  337 


r*  erf  b  ~  _   ~  i~  n  — .   _ 

§    "~      ?    3  (^     C      3    '3      -i       I     'o  .-•      C      C 

2    S   -^         u  .       rt  .*=£•::  r- ^  —     •  xrtrt 


«  o  .3  S         _:  .i  -   *.,  -  ^  ,3  ^  1  S  -2 


N 


-    f 


S     u 


rt      .    —   -5    ■-     <a         5             I     2     X    d  " "    52  rt     -_i            w 

i£ia|2  553.85111     §  nil 

1  "3  «j  Jj  a  ^     E6«g^SM3       »     &  «  is  <8  J 

§        Oh 


G 

a 


J3         C  .«  rt     On 


H 


O  =S 


>  C/3    »*<      fl  H  X 

to  ^         ?  3  S 

^  tT       A  °  § 

^  o  x     cs  ^ 

i  g>  ir  •— « 

~  m  <j  o  r> 

6  f,  ■-»   ^:  u 

.-  .5Z3  <•  ^-  ^ 


338 


APPENDICES 


i 


lL  -c  ^  -5    c    <"    c 

-  a  .a  s  g  s 

_,      U      C  ~    <"     vrj 

W     **  g       rt 

«    J3    ■-  ~    £    i-i   ■ 

^  :g«  *  jc  «   7> : 

I S  n I 

"*  °    c  ? 

o    >^  .5 

o    c 

rt 


*"     i? 


"     x   ^ 


o  en 


T3    -2      g    <»      ! 

5  K  j.  i  s 


aj     x 


^3 

^    A 


£  H  .JL 
—     '    "S  *^ 

■    c  i2    6 


S 


Oy    ^ 


rt  w .,  *  .s  a  «  :3 

o  i      ^  —     c  u-  o-    i 

w  .  C  i,  £  °  2 

«—  :n   ^  <u  rv    .-^ 

i3  &  &>  05  •£    u 

H 


o 

H 

CO 


I 
o 

<v 
a 

Oh 


U      U     i 1    1>      1)    T3 

£  £  :=  e  ■£    c 

I  I  &  I  ■»  1 

I 1  i      I     CJ     I       I  —      u 

'"  '•-    G    >  .2  -5 
.      ' — '    «    i 3     •- 

'8  s  JS-gfla 

i  2  <   o    I  «« 

Q  CO   „   T3   J^   o 

OS     **      J 

aj  J-3 


— '  O 

»=    r:    >-.    v  i> 

rt    -C    c_    1^  -C 

M    &  5     S   .»  I 

~  S  ° 

,    v—    CO' 


fl   J= 


rt     oj 


M       t/5 


C     J£       t/5       ^ 


.2   ^ 


0J  o      >- 

co  Q  W 


— 


T3 
C 

s 


x 
W 

H 


o- 
o 


& 


.5  — 


S 


o 


s 


Oh 


«l,  S 


•-  .5    i 


H  5 


a 

u 


u 


«  -5 


H    ->  -  "I 


'5 
o 

s- 

u 


:/:_.£. 


_; 

- 

N_ 

x 

cd 

"> 

Z 

— 

1 1 

■_> 

>, 

— 

.— 

*■* 

-~ 

— 

<— 

~z- 

>■ 

— 

rt 

< 

r- 

Z 

_z; 

— 

- 

n. 

** 

_ 

V 

B 

'J 

— 

Q 

— 

APPENDICES  339 


-    E    2 
.9    ?    7 


■=        ■.  -e      a      jt 


B 


fi    -     '     -'  — 


z 


-/-       i_        i       —     —  -^  .—       _  r;  _ 


S      '      x     -I    - 


—     •—      •> 


£  Q  S    U  ^  .  x  -    i:    -        «  -S  "2 


J.I 


-     ?     =     ?     I   -r   "=     h   ._     :  :     ?    ^A| 

o  <o  Q  <j  -a  a  =  -  a   v 


°?     >                       £^3^.5*30.2   5         «  «  >    <- 

Jr>      ~                                   =       !      ■_             ^     S     »     S     «     fl             —  =  G  •-' 

to     2                        y     ;_.>-«.*-<   •       u  ^     .  ja  ^  J3  •*! 

Q    .         .    s        ^      —   X  -£  < 

-^  =  V  , 


^ ^  " I       •  ■  '—  —  yl     —     '^_     —  *^- 

„    5    «,  S  M  5f  —  x           -£  < 

•-  ^  ~  :^  •-  >■  S  iz  .i  s  *S  '"S  S  ' 

OS    ^    o    g  .>    o  .-    o  .;-  c   .-    o  -a 

U                  '-^        U  '^  u  u 


340  APPENDICES 


<3 


3 

13 

<U 

a 

P^ 

a 

<u 

*** 

SI 

<2 

■*-> 

K 

<*_ 

« 

o 

^ 

(/> 

CJ 

V 

>- 

Cfl 

cS 

o, 

4-1 

_2 

£ 

X 

o 
U 

t-H 

| 

i — 

hh 

> 

i — i 

<U 

N 

a 

u 

rn 

'S 

X 

i^ 

o 

1 

i 

1-1 

'x 

vO 

— 

U 

( — i  <L> 


8  .1 


<  or. 


■8  - 

c      . 
o  :- 

u 


ri 

<D 

~* 

TJ 

a 

C 

o 

'C 

| 

•  i-l 

PH 

w 

0 

i — i 

■2  ■> 

^      Si  U  (H 

C   <  x>  o 


H 


> 


o 

CO 

< 

■4-J 

CO 

(1) 

bJO 

1 

CO 

— 
C 

z 

O 

C/J 

rs 

<D 

■J- 

Q 

CA 

> 

w 

•n 

AlTl  MUCKS  341 


TO   ACCOMPANY   CHAPTER    III 

THE    HISTORY   OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT   CHURCH 
AS   PRESENTED   BY   ITSELF 

%*  This  is  covered  by  two  volumes  of  The  Modern  Readers 
Bible :  viz.  St.  Luke  and  St.  Paul  (volumes  I  and  2). 

Life  of  Jesus.     (Pages  91-96.) 

Birth  and  Early  Life  of  Jesus  \_Luke  i-iv.  13] — The  Ministry 
in  Galilee  [iv.  14-ix.  50]  — The  Way  to  Jerusalem  [ix.  51-xix. 
28]  —  Jesus  in  Jerusalem,  his  Passion  and  Resurrection  [xix. 
29-xxiv]. 

The  Acts  of  the  Apostles.     (Pages  96-1 18.) 

1.  Evangelisation  of  Palestine,  and  Conversion  of  the  Gentiles 

\_Acts  i-xii]. 

2.  Institution  of   the    Missionary  Journey  and  Opening  of  the 

Gospel  to  Europe  [xiii-xviii.  11]. 

3.  Institution  of  the  Missionary  Epistle  [xviii.  12-xix.  20]. 

After  xviii.  11  read  Epistles  to  the  Thessalonians. 
After  xviii.  23  read  Epistle  to  the  Galatians. 
After  xix.  20  read  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians. 

4.  St.  Paul  and  Rome  \_Acts  xix.  21-xxviii]. 

After  xx.  1  read  Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians. 

After  xx.  2  read  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

After  the  end  of  Acts  read  the  Epistles :  Ephesians, 
Colossians,  Philippians,  Philemon  ;  I  and  II  Tim- 
othy, Titus. 

Remaining  Epistles :  Of  Peter,  Jude,  Second  and 
Third  0/  John.  — An  Epistle  to  Hebrews. 


342  APPENDICES 

TO   ACCOMPANY   CHAPTER   V 

OLD   TESTAMENT   WISDOM 

%*  This  is  covered  by  four  volumes  of  The  Modem  Readers 
Bible :  viz.  Proverbs,  Ecclesiaslicus,  Ecclesiastes  and 
Wisdom,    The  Book  of  Job. 

The  Proverbs. — A  Miscellany  in  five  parts:  Sonnets  on 
Wisdom  [Proverbs  i-ix]  —  Proverbs  of  Solomon  [x-xxii. 
1 6]  —  A  Wisdom  Epistle  [xxii.  17-xxiv] — Proverbs  of 
Solomon  collected  under  Hezekiah  [xxv-xxix]  —  Shorter 
Collections  [xxx-xxxi].     (Pages  136-146.) 

The  Sonnets  are:  The  Company  of  Sinners  [i.  10-19]  — Wis- 
dom's Cry  of  Warning  [i.  20-33]  — Wisdom  the  Deliverer 
from  Evil  [ii] — The  Commandment  and  the  Reward  [iii. 
1-10]  —  Wisdom  the  Supreme  Prize  [iii.  1 1-20]  —  Wis- 
dom and  Security  [iii.  21-26]  —  Wisdom  and  Perversity 
[iii.  27-35] — The  Tradition  of  Wisdom  [iv.  1-9] — The 
Two  Paths  [iv.  10-19] — Wisdom  and  Health  [iv.  20-27] 

—  The  Strange  Woman  [v] — Suretiship  [vi.  1-5]  — 
The  Sluggard  [vi.  6-1 1]  — A  Pair  of  Sonnets:  The  Sower 
of  Discord  [vi.  12-19]  — Adultery  the  Supreme  Folly  [vi. 
20-35] — Wisdom  and  the  Strange  Woman  [vii-viii]  — 
The  House  of  Wisdom  and  the  House  of  Folly  [ix]  — 
Wine  and  Woe  [xxiii.  29-35] — The  Field  of  the  Slothful 
[xxiv.  30-34]  —  The  Unsearchableness  of  God  [xxx.  1-4] 

—  An  Evil  Generation  [xxx.  11-14] — The  Virtuous 
Woman  [xxxi.  10-31]. 

Number  Sonnets  of  Agur  [xxx.  7-9  ;  15-16  ;  18-19  ;  21-23; 
24-28;  29-31].  —  All  the  rest  of  The  Book  of  Proverbs 
is  made  up  of  brevities,  such  as  proverbs,  epigrams,  etc. 

Ecclesiasticus :  or,  The  Wisdom  of  Jesus  the  Son  of  Sirach. 
—  A  Miscellany  in  five  books.  Book  I  [i-xxiii]  — Preface 
and   Book   II    [xxiv-xxxiii.   15]  —  Preface   and   Book   III 


APPENDICES  343 

[xxxiii.  i6-x.\xix.  n]  —  Preface  and  Book  IV  [xxxix. 
12-xlii.  14]  —  Book  V  [xlii.  15-I.  24] — Epilogue  [1  from 
verse  25] — Author's  Preface  [li] .     (Pages  136-146.) 

Sonnets  are:   Wisdom  and  the    Fear  of  the  Lord  [i.   1-20] 

—  True  and  False  Fear  [ii.  7-18]  —  Fools  and  the  Dead 
[xxii.  11-12]  —  Watchfulness  of  Lips  and  Heart  [xxii. 
27-xxiii.  6]  — Women  Bad  and  Good  [xxvi.  7-18]  — The 
Fearers  of  the  Lord  [xxxiv.  13-17] — A  Pair  of  Sonnets: 
A  Garden  of  Blessings  [xl.  n-27]  —  On  Death  [xli.  1-4]. 

Among  the  Essays  are:  Honour  to  Parents  [iii.  1-16]  — 
Meekness  [iii.  17— 28J — Consideration  for  High  and  Low 
[iv.  1-10]  — Wisdom's  Way  with  her  Children  [iv.  11-19] 

—  True  and  False  Shame  [iv.  20-28]  —  Friendship  [vi. 
5-17]  —  Pursuit  of  Wisdom  [vi.  18-37]  —  Household  Pre- 
cepts [vii.  19-36] — Adaptation  of  Behaviour  to  Various 
Sorts  of  Men  [viii-ix.  16] — Wisdom  and  Government 
[ix.  17-x.  5] — Pride  and  True  Greatness  [x.  6-xi.  6]  — 
Prosperity  and  Adversity  from  the  Lord  [xi.  n-28]  — 
Choice  of  Company  [xi.  29-xiii.  24]  —  Niggardliness  [xiv. 
3-19]  — The  Pursuer  of  Wisdom  and  his  Reward  [xiv.  20- 
xv.  10]  —  Free  Will  [xv.  11-20] — No  Safety  for  Sinners 
in  Numbers  [xvi.  I-23] — God's  Work  of  Creation  and 
Restoration  [xvi.  24-xviii.  14]  —  Against  Gossip  [xix.  4- 
17]  —  Wisdom  and  its  Counterfeits  [xix.  20-xx.  13]  —  The 
Discipline  of  the  Mouth  [xxiii.  7-15] — Retribution  and 
Vengeance  [xxvii.  25-xxviii.  11] — On  the  Tongue  [xxviii. 
12-26]  — On  Lending  and  Suretiship  [xxix.  1-20] — The 
Blessing  of  a  House  of  One's  Own  [xxix.  21-28]  — Chas- 
tisement of  Children  [xxx.  1-13] — On  Health  [xxx.  14- 
25] — On  Riches  [xxxi.  1-11] — On  Feasting  [xxxi.  12- 
xxxii.  13] — On  Dreams  [xxxiv.  1-8] — On  Sacrifices 
[xxxiv.  18-xxxv]  —  On  Wives  [xxxvi.  21-26]  — On  Counsel 
and  Counsellors  [xxxvii.  7-26]  —  Disease  and  Physicians 
[xxxvii.  27-xxxviii.  15]  —  Mourning  for  the  Dead  [xxxviii. 
16-23] — The  Wisdom  of  Business  and  the  Wisdom  of 
Leisure  [xxxviii.  24-xxxix.  11] — The  Burden  of  Life  [xl. 


344  APPENDICES 

i-io]  —  Encomium  on  the  Works  of  the  Lord  [xlii.  15- 
xliii]  —  Praise  of  Famous  Men  [xliv-1.  24]. 

The  rest  of  Ecclesiasticus  is  made  up  of  epigrams,  maxims, 
short  sayings,  etc. 

Ecclesiastes  ;  or.  The  Preacher.  —  A  Series  of  five  essays,  with 
miscellaneous  sayings.     (Pages  146-155.) 
Prologue:  All  is  Vanity  [i.  2-1 1]. 
Essay  I:  Solomon's  Search  for  Wisdom  [i.  12-ii]. 
Essay  II :  The  Philosophy  of  Times  and  Seasons  [iii.  i-iv.  8]# 

[Miscellaneous  Maxims  of  Life.1] 
Essay  III:  The  Vanity  of  Desire  [v.  10-vi.  12]. 

[Miscellaneous  Paradoxes  of  Life.1] 
Essay  IV :    The  Search  for  Wisdom,  with  Notes  by  the  Way 
[vii.  23-ix.  16]. 

[Miscellaneous  Proverbs  of  Life.1] 
Essay  V :   Life  as  a  Joy  shadowed  by  the  Vanity  of  the  Days 

to  Come  [xi.  7-xii.  7]. 
Epilogue:   All  is  Vanity:   Fear  God  [xii.  8-14]. 

The  Wisdom  of  Solomon,  in  the  Apocrypha.  —  A  Series  of  five 
Discourses.     (Pages  155-164.) 
Discourse  I:   Singleness  of  Heart  [i.  1-11]. 
Discourse  II :    Immortality  and  the  Covenant  with  Death   [i. 

12-vi.  11]. 
Discourse  III :  Solomon's  Winning  of  Wisdom  [vi.  12-ix]. 
Discourse  IV:  The  World  saved  through  Wisdom  [x-xi.  5]. 
Discourse  V :  Judgments  on  the  Wicked  turned  to  Blessings 
on  God's  People  [xi.  5-xix]. 

The  Book  of  Job  :  A  Dramatic  Poem  framed  in  an  Epic  Story. 
(Pages  164-186.) 

Story  Prologue  [i-ii]. 

Dramatic  Poem :  Job's  Curse  [iii]  —  First  Cycle  of  Speeches 

1  These   miscellaneous   sections   [iv.   q-v.  9;    vii.  1-22;   ix.  17-xi.  6] 
should  be  omitted  in  studying  the  argument  of  the  book. 


APPENDICES  345 

[iv-xiv] — Second  Cycle    [xv-xxi '] — Third   Cycle2    [xxii- 
xxx] — Job's  Oath  of  Vindication  [xxxi] — Interposition  of 
Elihu  [xxxii-xxxvii]  —  Divine  Intervention  [xxxviii-xlii.  6]. 
Story  Epilogue  [xlii  from  verse  7]. 


TO   ACCOMPANY   CHAPTER   VI 

NEW  TESTAMENT   WISDOM 

*„,*  This  is  covered  by  two  volumes  of  The  Modern  Reader's 
Bible  ;  viz.  St.  Matthew,  etc.,  and  St.  John. 

The  Epistle  of  St.  James. — A  Miscellany  of  Christian  Wis- 
dom.    (Pages  187-193.) 

The  Essays  or  Discourses  are :  On  the  Sources  of  the  Evil  and 
the  Good  in  us  [i.  12-27]  — On  Respect  of  Persons  [ii.  1-13] 

—  Faith  and  Works  [ii.  14-26] — The  Responsibility  of 
Speech  [iii.  1-12] — The  Earthly  Wisdom  and  the  Wisdom 
from  Above  [iii.  13-18] — On  Worldly  Pleasures  [iv.  1-10] 

—  The  Judgment  to  Come  [iv.  13-v.  18].  — The  rest  of  the 
epistle  is  made  up  of  brief  epigrams,  maxims,  or  paradoxes. 

[Note  :  The  First  Epistle  of  St.  John  is  perhaps  best  read  as  a 
Miscellany  of  Christian  Wisdom.  The  divisions  would  be  : 
i.  1-4,  5-7;  i.  8— ii.  2;  ii.  3-6,  7-1 1,  12-14,  15-17,  18-28; 
ii.  29— iii.  12;  iii.  13-23;  iii.  24-iv.  6;  iv.  7-21;  v.  1-5, 
6-13,  14-17,  18-21.] 


1  It  is  best  in  Chapter  xxi  to  treat  certain  passages  as  interruptions : 
verse  16  Eliphaz  —  verse  19  (a)  Bildad  —  verse  22  Zophar.  [See 
The  Modern  Reader's  Bible,  volume  Job,  pages  127-132.] 

2  The  division  of  speeches  needs  rearrangement  in  the  Third  Cycle, 
including  a  transference  of  xxvi.  2-4  to  the  beginning  of  xxvii.  The 
speeches  then  come  out  thus  :  Eliphaz  [xxii]  — Job  [xxiii-xxiv]  —  Bildad 
[xxv,  continued  xxvi.  5-14]  —  Job  [xxvi.  2-4,  continued  xxvii.  2-6]  — 
Zophar  [xxvii.  7-xxviii]  —  Job  [xxix-xxx].  —  The  question  is  fully  dis- 
cussed in  J  he  Modern  Reader's  Bible,  volume  Job,  pages  125-127. 


346  APPENDICES 

The  Gospel  of  St.  Matthew.  — A  Life  of  Jesus  in  the  spirit  of 
[Hebrew]  Wisdom.     (Pages  194-209.) 

1.  Birth  of  Jesus 

i-ii 

2.  John  the  Baptist,  and  appearance 

of  Jesus  in  public 
iii-iv.  16 

3.  Opening  of  the  Ministry  of  Jesus 

and  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount 
iv.  17-vii.  27 

4.  First  Impressions :  Gathering  of 

Disciples  and  Hints  of  Antago- 
nism 

vii.  28-ix.  34 

The  Church  The    World 

5.    Organisation     of    Apostles  6.    Growing  Isolation  of  Jesus 

and  the  Sevenfold  Com-  and  his  Ministry 

mission  xi.  2-xii 
ix.  35-xi.  1 

7.   The  Public  Parable  and  the  8.   The   Greater   Miracles  and 

Private  Interpretation  the  Growing  Antagonism 

xiii.  1-52  xiii.  53-xvi.   12 

9.    Recognition    of  the    King-  10.    Entry   into    Jerusalem    and 

dom  by  the  Disciples  and  Breach   with  the    Ruling 

Questions  arising  thereon  Classes 

xvi.  13-xx  xxi-xxiii 

11.    Discourse  to  the  Disciples:  12.    Passion  and  Resurrection  ot 

Revelation  of  the  End  Jesus 

xxiv-xxv  xxvi-xxviii 

The  Gospel  of  St.  John. — A  Life  of  Jesus  in  the  spirit  of 
[Greek]  Wisdom.  (Pages  209-218.) 
Prologue  [i.  1-18] — Earlier  Signs  and  Witness  of  Jesus 
[i.  19-iv]  —  Signs  and  Witness  to  the  Jews  [v-xii]  — Signs 
and  Witness  to  the  Disciples  [xiii-xvii]  — The  Passion  and 
Resurrection  of  Jesus  [xviii-xx]  —  Epilogue  :  A  Personal 
Reminiscence  [xxi]. 


APPEND  ICES  347 

TO    ACCOMPANY    CHAPTER   VI  i 

LYRIC   POETRY   OF   THE   BIBLE 

%*  This  is  covered  by  three  volumes  of  The  Modern  Reader's 
Bible;  viz.   The  Psalms  (2  volumes),  Biblical  Idyls. 

Odes,  Anthems,  Songs.     (Pages  219-238.) 

Odes:  Song  of  Moses  and  Miriam  [Exodus  xv]  —  Deborah's 
Song  [Judges  v]  — A  Processional  Ode  [Psalm  lxviii]. 

National  Anthems :  Psalms  cxxxvi,  cv,  lxxviii,  cvi :  compare 
cvii. 

Occasional:  Inauguration  of  Jerusalem  [Psalms  xxx;  xxiv.  1-6, 
7-10 ;  cxxxii;  ci]  —  compare  Sennacherib  Songs  [Psalms 
xlvi,  xlviii,  lxxvi]. 

Ritual  Hymns  and  Anthems :  Festal  [Psalms  xxxiii,  xlv,  xlvii, 
lxvii,  lxxxi,  xcv-c,  cxxxv,  cxlv-cl] — War  [Psalms  xx-xxi, 
lix,  lx  and  cviii]  — Votive  [Psalms  xxxiv,  lxvi,  xcii,  cxi-cxviii] 

—  Liturgies  [Psalms  xxv,  xl,  lxv,  lxxxvi]. 

Songs  and  Meditations  :  Of  Deliverance  [Psalms  xviii,  cxxxviii, 
cxlii]  — Of  Nature  and  Providence  [Psalms  xxix,  ciii-civ]  — 
Of  Judgment  [Psalms  Hi,  lviii,  lxxv,  lxxxiii,  xciv]  —  Of  Trust 
and  Consecration  [Psalms  xi,  xvi,  lxii,  xc,  xci]. 

On  Set  Themes :  The  Tree  and  the  Chaff  [Psalm  i]  —  Song  of 
the  Lord's  Anointed  [ii]  —  Man  the  Viceroy  of  God  [viii] 
— The  Consecrated  Life  [xv] — The  Heavens  above  and  the 
Law  within  [xix]  —  Under  the  Protection  of  Jehovah  [xxiii] 

—  Evil  Unbounded  and  Infinite  Good  [xxxvi] — The  Pros- 
perity of  the  Wicked  [xxxvii]  —  Man  that  is  in  Honour:  a 
Parable  [xlix]  —  A  Dynasty  of  Righteousness  [lxxii] — The 
Mystery  of  Prosperous  Wickedness  [lxxiii]  —  Zion  Mother 
of  Nations  [lxxxvii] — Jehovah's   Immovable  Throne  [xciii] 

—  King  and  Priest  [ex]  — The  Law  of  the  Lord  [cxix]. 
Songs  of  Ascents,  or  Pilgrim's  Hymnbook  [Psalms  exx-exxxiv  : 

compare  Psalm  lxxxiv]. 
Elegies.     (Pages  238-239.) 
Personal :   David's  Lament  [//  Samuel  i]  —  Psalm  lxxxviii. 


348  APPENDICES 

National :  Psalms  xliv,  lxxiv,  lxxix,  lxxx,  lxxxix,  cxxxvii.  —  Espe- 
cially :    The  Book  of  Lamentations. 

3.    Monologues  and  Dramatic  Lyrics.      (Pages  239-248.) 

Monodies   of  Experience :    Psalms    xxxii,   xxxix,   xli,   xlii-xliii, 

lxxvii. 
Prayers  and  Litanies:   Psalms  iv,  v,  xiii,  xvii,  xxvi,  xxxv,  xxxviii, 

li,  lv,  lxi,  lxiii,  lxiv,  lxx,  cii,  cix,  cxl,  cxli,  cxliii. 
Dramatic  Lyrics :   Psalms  iii,  vi,  xii,  xxii,  xxviii,  liv,  lvi,  Ivii, 

Ixix,  lxxi,  cxxxix. 
Dramatic  Anthems :   Psalms  ix-x,  xxvii,  lxxxv,  cviii,  cxliv. 
Visions:   Psalms  vii,  1,  liii  (=  xiv),  lxxxii. 

Lyric  Idyl:  Solomon's  Song  [in  seven  idyls]  :  I.  The  Wedding 
Day  (i.  2-ii.  7) — 2.  The  Bride's  Reminiscences  of  the 
Courtship  (ii.  S — iii.  5)  —  3.  The  Day  of  Betrothal  (iii. 
6-v.    1) — 4.    The    Bride's   Troubled    Dream    (v.    2-vi.    3) 

—  5.    The    King's    Meditation   on   his  Bride    (vi.   4-vii.   9) 

—  6.  The  Bride's  Longing  for  her  Home  on  Lebanon  (vii. 
10  viii.  4)  —  7.  The  Renewal  of  Love  in  the  Vineyard  of 
Lebanon  (viii.  5-14).     (Pages  248-257.) 


TO   ACCOMPANY   CHAPTERS   VIII   AND    IX 

OLD   TESTAMENT   PROPHECY 

%*  This  is  covered  by  four  volumes  of  The  Modern  Reader's 
Bible  ;  viz.  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel,  Daniel,  etc. 

Doom  Prophecies.     (Pages  260-266.) 

Nineveh:  Nahum.  —  Assyria:   Isaiah  xiv.  24-27. 

Babylon:  Isaiah  xiii-xiv.  23;  Jeremiah  1-li. 

Egypt:  Isaiah  xix;  Jeremiah  xlvi.  3-12  and   14-28;    Ezekiel 

xxix-xxxii. 
Tyre  and  Zidon  :  Isaiah    xxiii ;   Ezekiel  xxvi-xxviii. 
Philistia:  Isaiah  xiv.  28-32;  Jeremiah  xlvii;  Ezekielxxv.  15-17. 
Damascus:   Isaiah  xvii.  I— II;  Jeremiah  xlix.  23-27. 
Moab:  Isaiah  xv-xvi;  Jeremiah  xlviii;   Ezekielxxv.  8-11. 


APPEND*  1  -  349 

Edom :  Jeremiah  xlix.  7-22;    Ezekiel  xxv.  12-14;    Obadiah. 

Ammon  :  Jeremiah  xlix.  1-6;    Ezekiel  xxv.  1-7. 

Others:    Isaiah  xvii.  12-14;    xviii;    xx;  Jereni  iah  xlix.  28-59  — 

especially:  The  Prophetic  Watchman  [Isaiah  xxi-xxii.  14] — 

and  Zephaniah. 

Rhapsodies  or  Spiritual  Dramas.     (Pages  267-284.) 

Full  Rhapsodies :  The  Rhapsody  of  Zion  Redeemed  1  [Isaiah 
xl-lxvi]  —  Of  Judgment  [Isaiah  xxiv-xxvii] — Of  Salvation 
[Isaiah  xxxiii]  — Of  the  Drought  [Jeremiah  xiv-xv]  — The 
Yearning  of  God  [llosea  xi-xiv.  8] — Of  the  Judgment  to 
Come  [Amos  from  i.  3] — Of  the  Locust  Plague  [Joel]  — 
The  Lord's  Controversy  before  the  Mountains  [Micah  vi. 
1-8]  —  The  Lord's  Cry  and  the  Man  of  Wisdom  [Micah  vi. 
9-vii]  — Of  the  Chaldeans  [Habakkuk~\. 

Rhapsodic  Discourses:  Isaiah  viii.  9— ix.  7;  x.  5— xii ;  Jeremiah 
11-vi;  Micah  i.  2-v;  Zechariah  ix-xi.  3. —  Compare  Zepha- 
niah, .Valium,  and  doom  prophecies  in  general. 

Prophetic  Story.     (Pages  304-306 ;  compare  56-57.) 

The  Book  oj  Jonah,  in  literary  classification,  goes  with  the 
stories  of  Elijah  and  other  prophets  figuring  in  the  historical 
books.  The  revelation  is  made,  not  by  discourse,  but  by  the 
prophet's  experience  and  action. 

Prophetic  Ministry.     (Pages  285-311.) 

Under  the  Kings  :  Isaiah  —  Micah  —  Ilosca  —  Amos  —  Zecha- 
riah xi.   4-17. 

Siege  of  Jerusalem  :  Jeremiah  —  Zechariah  xii-xiv. 

Cnder  the  Exile  :    Ezekiel —  Daniel. 

Aftei  the  Return  :   Haggai  —  Zechariah  i— viii  —  Malachi. 
Divisions  of  the  longer  books.     (Pages  285-301. ) 

Isaiah:  l-vi  General  Prophecies  —  vii-x.  4  The  Sign  Imman- 

1  This  Rhapsody  divides  thus:  Prelude  [xl.  i-n]  — Vision  I:  The 
Servant  of  Jehovah  Delivered  [xl.  12-xlviii]  —  Vision  II:  The  Servant 
of  Jehovah  Awakened  [xlix-1]  —  Vision  III  :  The  Awakening  of  Zion 
fli-lii.  12]— Vision  IV:  The  Servant  of  Jehovah  Exalted  [Hi.  13-liii] 
—  Vision  V  :  Songs  of  Zion  Exalted  [liv-lv]  —  Vision  VI  :  Redemption 
at  work  in  Zion  [lvi-lxii]  —Vision  VII  :  The  Day  of  Judgment  [lxiii-lxvi]. 


350  APPENDICES 

uel  —  x.  5— xii  Assyrian  Invasion  —  xiii-xxvii  A  Cycle  of 
Dooms  —  xxviii-xxxv  Judgment  and  Restoration  —  xxxvi- 
xxxix  Ministry  under  Hezekiah —  xl-lxvi  Rhapsody  of  Zion 
Redeemed. 

Jeremiah:  i-vi  The  Prophet's  Call  and  Manifesto  —  vii-x 
Miscellaneous  —  xi-xiii  The  Missionary  Journey  —  xiv-xvii 
The  Drought  and  other  prophecies  —  xviii-xx  Discourses 
founded  on  Pottery  —  xxi-xxiii  Messages  to  Rulers  —  xxiv- 
xxix  Occasional  Prophecies  —  xxx-xxxi  Prophecies  of  Resto- 
ration —  xxxii-xlv  Incidental  Prophecies  —  xlvi-li  Doom 
Prophecies  —  Hi  Appendix. 

Ezekiel ;  i-xi  Opening  of  the  Message  —  xii-xiv  The  Seven- 
fold Token  —  xv-xix  The  Sevenfold  Parable  —  xx.  1-44 
Judgment  of  the  Inquiring  Elders  —  xx.  45-xxiv  Seven  Last 
Words  —  xxv-xxxii  Doom  Prophecies — xxxiii-xlviii  The  Fall 
and  the  Restoration  to  come. 

TO   ACCOMPANY   CHAPTER   X 

NEW   TESTAMENT    PROPHECY 

%*  In  the  St.  John  volume  of  The  Modern  Reader's  Bible. 
St.  John's  Revelation.     (Pages  312-326.) 

Prologue:   Words  to  the  Seven  Churches  [i— Hi]. 

First  Vision:  The  Sealed  Book  and  the  Lamb  [iv-v]. 
Second  Vision  :  The  Seven  Seals  and  the  Powers  of  Judg- 
ment [vi-viii.  4]. 
Third  Vision  :  The  Seven  Trumpets  and  Mystery  of  Prophecy 

[viii.  5-xi.  18]. 
Fourth  Vision  :  The  Kingdom  of  the  World  becoming  the 

Kingdom  of  Christ  [xi.  19-xv.  4]. 
Fifth    Vision:    The   Seven   Golden   Bowls;    or,    Mystery  of 

Babylon  [xv.  5-xix.  4]. 
Sixth  Vision :  The  Word  of  God  and  the  Thrones  of  Judg- 
ment [xix.  5-xx]. 
Seventh  Vision :    The   Lamb's    Bride,  The   New  Jerusalem 
[xxi-xxii.  5]. 
Epilogue  :  Seven  Last  Words  [xxii  from  6]. 


APPENDIX    II 

PROGRESSIVE   STUDY   IN    BIBLICAL 
LITERATURE 


I.     STORY    STAGE 

Story  is  the  natural  literary  food  of  the  mind  in  its  ele- 
mentary stage.  It  is  moreover  characteristic  of  Hebrew 
literature  that  the  spirit  of  its  whole  history  is  expressed  by 
stories.  Hence  the  story  literature  of  the  Bible  should  be 
the  commencement  of  all  study  for  young  people,  or  for  others 
who,  for  various  reasons,  are  unfamiliar  with  Scripture.  To 
meet  this  want  two  additional  volumes  of  The  Modern  Reader  s 
Bible1  have  been  prepared :  — 

Bible  Stories  :  Old  Testament 
Bible  Stories  :  New  Testament 

The  stories  are  in  the  language  of  Scripture,  altered  only  by 
omissions.  The  arrangement  is  according  to  the  natural  divi- 
sions of  Bible  history  :  Genesis.  The  Exodus,  The  Judges,  The 
Kings  and  Prophets,  The  Exile  and  Return ;  The  Life  of 
Jesus,  Acts  of  the  Apostles.'2  To  each  section  there  is  an 
introduction,  indicating  the  bearing  of  the  several  stories 
on  the  general  history.  A  few  notes  are  added.  —  In  the 
absence  of  these  volumes  selection  may  be  made  by  a  teacher 
with  the  aid  of  the  preceding  Appendix. 

Method  of  Study.  —  i.  The  first  duty  to  a  story  is  to  love 
it,  and  nothing  should  interfere  with  this.  —  2.  Another  use 
of  stories  is  to  light  up  portions  of  ancient  history :  the  intro- 
duction and  notes  are  intended  to  assist  in  this.  —  3.  Such 
stories  lend  themselves  to  moral  and  religious  comment  by  the 
teacher;  they  make  a  text  book  for  the  study  of  human  life. 

1  Macmillan,  London  and  New  York.  Each  volume  2/6  ("England). 
50  cents  (America). 

2  Each  part  may  be  procured  separately  in  paper  covers. 

353 


354  APPENDICES 

II.     MASTERPIECES    STAGE 

But  story  is  only  a  single  form  of  literature  :  other  literary 
forms  —  oratory,  wisdom  (or  philosophy),  lyrics,  rhapsody 
(or  drama) — need  more  study  for  their  appreciation.  The 
best  way  to  appreciate  a  type  of  literature  is  carefully  to 
study  a  few  masterpieces  illustrating  it.  Hence  a  special  vol- 
ume of  The  Modern  Reader's  Bible  has  been  prepared  :  — 

Biblical  Masterpieces  l 

As  the  title  implies,  it  is  a  collection  of  masterpieces  of  biblical 
literature,  illustrating  five  leading  forms  of  literature,  with 
introduction  and  notes.  In  this  case  it  is  desirable  that  the 
whole  class  should  have  the  volume  in  their  hands,  as  it  is  a 
question,  not  only  of  selection,  but  of  the  structural  printing 
that  represents  the  exact  literary  form  to  the  eye. 

Method  of  Study.  —  The  general  purpose  is  to  carry  famili- 
arity with  these  selected  masterpieces  to  the  furthest  point, 
short  of  wearying  the  student.  —  i.  Memorising  is  good,  if  it 
is  not  distasteful.  —  2.  Vocal  illustration  is  a  great  power  in 
literary  study.  Every  teacher  should  be  a  good  reader ;  and 
the  volume  may  be  used  as  a  reading  book  in  the  study  of 
elocution. — 3.  Use  should  be  made  of  structural  and  dra- 
matic reading.  For  example,  in  pieces  that  are  fully  dramatic 
the  parts  of  different  speakers  should  be  assigned  to  different 
members  of  the  class.  Or  in  (e.g.)  Deborah's  Song,  boys 
might  take  Men's  parts  and  the  girls  the  parts  of  the  Women. 
In  the  case  of  the  doom  form  [e.g.  p.  175,  or  182]  the  teacher 
might  read  the  Divine  monologue  while  the  class  give  the 
lyric  interruptions.  Or  in  such  an  ode  as  that  on  pages 
205-208,  the  teacher  might  take  the  prophet's  prelude  and 
postlude,  half  the  class  the  strophe,  the  other  half  the  antistro- 
phe.  and  the  whole  class  the  epode.  Where  there  is  nothing 
more  than  divisions  by  stanzas,  it  is  well  to  distribute  these 

1  Macmillan  :  English  price,  2/6;  American,  50  cents. 


APPENDICES  355 

among  different  readers.  —  Literary  effect  depends,  to  a  greater 
degree  than  many  people  think,  upon  the  emphasis  of  struc- 
ture ;  and  this  is  the  more  necessary  in  biblical  literature  as 
the  traditional  use  of  Scripture  has  entirely  ignored  it. 

III.     BOOK    STAGE 

Here  the  object  is  to  deal  with  a  book  of  Scripture  as  a 
continuous  and  independent  whole.  The  selection  may  be 
left  to  the  taste  of  teacher  or  students.  Some  very  miscella- 
neous books  (e.g.  Psalms,  Proverbs)  hardly  lend  themselves 
to  this  treatment ;  books  of  prophecy  however,  although  mis- 
cellanies, may  be  unified  by  personality  of  the  author.  An 
important  principle  underlies  this  stage  of  literary  study :  the 
distinction  between  what  may  be  called  the  Interpretation  of 
Exegesis  (or  Commentary)  and  the  Interpretation  of  Perspec- 
tive. The  effect  of  the  first  is  to  emphasise  details  at  the 
expense  of  the  general  effect  of  a  literary  work.  The  second 
lays  stress  upon  successive  rapid  readings  of  a  work,  until 
difficulties  of  detail  have  vanished  in  the  light  of  the  whole. 
Both  are  good ;  but  the  method  of  commentary  has  been 
over-emphasised  in  Bible  study,  until  many  people  think  of 
Scripture  as  a  collection  of  verses  rather  than  of  books. 

Method  of  Study.  —  i.  Read  the  book  at  a  single  sitting. 
This  is  often  more  practicable  than  might  at  first  appear,  if 
the  book  has  been  prepared  for  such  reading.  Thus  in  Deu- 
leronomy,  by  omitting,  or  rapidly  skimming,  the  prefatory 
matter  and  Book  of  the  Covenant  it  is  possible  to  bring  the  es- 
sential literature  of  the  book  —  the  orations  and  songs  —  within 
the  compass  of  a  single  reading.  Similarly,  it  is  well  to  omit 
the  miscellaneous  sayings  of  Ecclesiastes  in  endeavouring  to 
catch  the  argument  of  the  whole.  It  is  specially  advantageous 
if  a  teacher  can  give  students  their  first  impressions  of  a  book 
by  an  Interpretative  Reading,  which,  by  union  of  quotation, 
comment,  description,  brings  the  whole  content  in  condensed 
literary  force  within  the  limit  of  a  single  lesson. — 2.   Next 


356  APPENDICES 

study  the  work  in  detail,  with  notes  or  other  aid,  seeking  to 
understand  everything,  but  not  dwelling  too  long  at  a  time 
on  any  difficulty,  lest  it  grow  out  of  proportion  to  its  place  in 
the  general  perspective  of  the  book.  —  3.  Then  read  the  book 
again  at  a  sitting,  and  repeat  this  many  times ;  for  the  greater 
the  literature  is  the  oftener  will  it  bear  reading.  I  have  come 
across  an  individual  —  not  a  biblical  scholar,  but  a  layman  — 
who  claimed  to  have  repeated  his  one-sitting  readings  of  Job 
five  hundred  times! 

IV.     LITERATURE   STAGE 

The  student  is  now  prepared  to  study  biblical  literature  as  a 
whole,  or  types  of  literature  —  lyrics,  philosophy,  etc.  —  as 
wholes.  Here  choice  may  be  made  between  two  different 
lines  of  study,  of  which  I  have  prepared  text  books,  viz.  the 
present  volume,  and  the  larger  work  entitled  The  Literary 
Study  of  the  Bible.1  Both  these  works  cover  the  same  ground  : 
the  difference  is  that  the  one  is  shorter  and  gives  more  promi- 
nence to  the  matter  of  Scripture  ;  the  other  is  longer,  and  lays 
stress  on  literary  technicalities. 

A.     Literary  Sequence 

To  this  study  the  present  volume  is  a  text  book ;  and  the 
arrangement  of  reading  has  been  given  in  the  preceding 
Appendix. 

B.     Literary  Form 

For  this  the  text  book  is  The  Literary  Study  of  the  Bible : 
An  Account  of  the  Leading  Forms  of  Literature  represented 
in  the  Sacred  Writings.  The  natural  order  of  study  would 
be  as  follows  :  — 

Preface,  Introduction,  and  Book  First :  stating  and  illus- 
trating foundation  principles  of  literature. 

1  London,  Isbister  &  Co.  (price  10/6)  ;  Boston,  D.  C.  Heath  &  Co. 
(price  $2).     Second  edition,  1899. 


APPENDK  I  -  357 

[Appendix  III  on  Metrical  Structure.] 

Book  Second:   Lyrics:  with  Table  I  of  Appendix  II,  so 

that  each  division  of  lyric  poetry  may  be  Studied  in  the 

light  of  the  examples  illustrating  it. 
Book  Third:   History  and  Epic:  with  Tables  II  and  III 

of  Appendix  II. 
Book  Fourth  :  Rhetoric:  with  Table  VI  of  Appendix  II. 
[Table  VII  of  Appendix  II  :  Epic  and  Lyric  Idyl.] 
Book  Fifth  :  Wisdom  :  with  Table  IV  of  Appendix  II. 
Book  Sixth  :  Prophecy  :  with  Table  V  of  Appendix  II. 

Appendix  I,  the  Literary  Index  to  the  Bible,  should  through- 
out be  kept  in  view,  as  giving  exact  divisions  of  the  liter- 
ary content  of  the  Bible.  This  however  is  superseded  if  the 
volumes  of  The  Modem  Reader  s  Bible  are  used,  in  which  all 
these  divisions  of  structure  are  presented  to  the  eye. 


INDEX    OF    PASSAGES  OF 
SCRIPTURE 


Genesis 


As  a  whole 

i-xi 

iv.  23 

ix.  25 

xii-1 

xii.  1-9 

10-20 
xiii-xiv 
xv-xvii 
xviii-xix.  28 
xx 

xxi.  1-21 
xxii.  1-19 

20-24 
xxiii 
xxiv 
xxv.  1-6 

12-20 
xxvii.  1-40 

27 
xxvii.  41-xxxiii 
xxxv.  23-26 
xxxvi 

xxxvii.  2-36 
xxxix.  i-xlvi.  7 
xlvi.  8-27 
xlvi.  28-xIvii 
xlvii.  28-I 


[2 


PAGES 

15-19,  21,  333-334 

23-25.  333 

239 

239 

25-30.  333 

333 

28,  333 

25-26,  333 

26-27,  333 

26,  333 
28,  333 

334,  26-27 

27,  334 
333 

29-30.  334 

28,  334 
333 
333 

27-28,  334 

239 
28-29,  334 

333 

333 

IS-I9.  30,  334 

15-19.  30,  334 

333 

15-19.  3°.  334 

30,  334 


Exodus 
As  a  whole  21,  30-40,  334 

i-  i-5  334 

i.  8-xv  31-33 


PAGES 

i.  8-vi.  13 

334 

vi.  14-27 

334 

vi.  28-xi 

334 

vii.  1 

258 

xii.  1-20 

334 

21-39 

334 

xii.  40-xiii. 

16 

334 

xiii.  17-xv. 

21 

334 

XV 

220-221,  347 

xv.  22-xix 

33 

xix-xxiv 

33-35 

xix.  3-xx.  21 

334 

xx.  22-xxiv. 

11 

334 

xxiv.  12-xxxi 

334.  36 

xxxii-xxxiv 

334.  33-35 

xxxv-xl 

Leviticus 

334.  36 

As  a  whole 

21.  334 

i-vii 

335.  37 

viii-x 

335.  37 

xi-xvi 

335.  37 

xvii-xxvi 

335-  33-35 

xxvii 

335.  37 

Numbers 

As  a  whole  21,334-335 

i-''  335 

i.  20-44  36-37 

iii-iv  335 

v-vi  335 

v»  335 

viii  335 


359 


560 


INDEX   OF    PASSAGES  OF   SCRIPTl  kK 


PAGES 

PAGES 

ix-xxxvi 

35 

v.  13-vi 

336.  46 

ix.  1-14 

335 

vii-viii 

336,  46 

xv.  1 -3 1 

335 

ix 

336.  46 

32-36 

335.  37 

x.  1-27 

336,  46 

»  37-41 

335.  37 

xii 

336 

xvi-xviii 

335.  37 

xiii-xxii 

336 

xix 

335.  37 

xxiii-xxiv 

336.  47 

xx-xxi 

38 

xxii.  2-xxiv 

335-  38-40 

• 

Judges 

xxiii.  7 

239 

As  a  whole 

21.  45.  47-52,  336-337 

8 

125 

i-iii.  6 

47-48 

xxvi 

335 

iii.  12-30 

336. 48 

xxvii.  1- 

[i 

335.  37 

iv-v 

336,  1-5,  48- 

"49.  221,   347 

xxviii-xxix 

335 

vi-viii 

337.  49-5° 

XXX 

335 

ix 

337.  51-52 

xxxi 

335.  37 

x.  6— xii.  6 

337.  50 

xxxii 

335 

xiii.  2-xvi 

337.  50-51 

xxxiii.  1- 

49 

335 

xvii-xviii 

337.  52 

xxxiii.  50-xxxiv 

335 

xix-xxi 

337.  52 

XXXV 

335.  36 

xxxvi 

335.  37 

As  a  whole 

RUTH 

337.  53.  248 

Deuteronomy 

As  a  whole     11 , 

22,  40-45, 

291.  336 

I  Samuel 

i.  1 

40-41 

As  a  whole 

337.  21,  45,  5; 

2 

336 

i-iv 

53 

i.  6-iv.  40 
ii.  10-12 

20-23 
iii.  9 

11 

14 
v-xi 
x.  6-9 
xii-xxvi 
xxvii 
xxviii 
xxix-xxxi 
xxxi.  14-xxxii 
xxxiii-xxxiv 


As  a  whole 
ii 

iii-iv 


336,  41 
336 
336 
33° 
336 
336 
336,  41-42 

336 

336.  I2-  4i 

42 

33°.  42-43 

336.  43 

336,44 

336.  44-45 

Joshua 

21,  45.  46-47.  336 
336,  46 
336,  46 


1-11.  11 

ii.  12-iv 

v-vii.  1 

viii-xvi 

viii-xii 

xiii.  15-xiv.  46 

xv 

xvi-xxxi 

xvi.  1-13 


337 

337 

337.  53-54 

54 

337 

337 

337 

54-56 

337 


II  Samuel 

As  a  whole  21,  45,  337-338 


1 

ii-x 

vi 

xi-xx 

xi.  2-xii.  25 

xiii-xx.  22 

xx.  23-26 


337.  56.  77,  238,  347 

57 

77,  221-225 

58-59 
337 
337 
337 


INDEX   OF    PASSAGES   "I     S<  kIPTURE 


361 


\X11 

xxiii 

xxiii.  8-39 
xxiv 


As  a  whole 

i-ii.  11 

ii.  12-xi 

iv.  1-20 

vi-vii 

xi-xii 

xiii.  1-32 

xv.  i-S 

xvii-xix 

xx 

xx.  23 

xxi 

xxii 


As  a  whole 
i.  1-16 
ii-viii.  15 
ix-x 

x.  28-xvii 
xi.  1-20 
xiii.  14-21 
xviii-xxv 


58.77 

58.77 

337 

337.  57 

I  Kings 

337-338.  21,  56-57 

59 
59-60 

338 

338 

60 

338,  60-62 

78 

338,  62-64 

338,  64-65 

305 

338.  65 
338,  64-65 

II  Kings 

338,  2i,  56-57 

338.  65 

338.  65-67 

67-68 

68 

68 

338 
338.69 


I  Chronicles 


As  a  whole 
i-ix.  34 

«•  35-44 

xi.  10-xii 

xiii 

xv-xvi 

xvi.  8-36 

xvii-xxix 

xxiii-xxvii 

II 

As  a  whole 
iii.  i-v.  1 
xiii 


xv.  13-14 
xxxiii 


As  a  whole 

'•5 
i-vi 

ii 

vii-x 

viii.  1-14 

x.  18-44 


79 

77 

Ezra 

339.  340,  75-76.  79 

75 
79-80,  339 

340 

8o,  339 
339 
339 


N'F.HEMIAH 
As  a  whole  339-34°.  75-76,  80 


l-vn. 5 
vii.  6-73 
vii.  73-x 
xi-xii.  26 
xii.  27-xiii 


80,  339 

340 

339 

340 

80-81,  340 


Esther 
As  a  whole  70,  74-75,  338 


As  a  whole 


339.  21,  75-79 

339 

339.  77 

339 

221-225 

77,  221-225 

77 

77 

339 


Chronicles 


339.  21,  75-79 

339 

78 


1-11 

iii 

iii.  13 

iv-xiv 

xiv-xix 

xiv.  18-22 

xv-xxi 

xxi 

xxiv 

xxii-xxx 

xxvi.  2-4 

xxxi 

xxxii-xxxvii 

xxxvi.  22-xxxvii 

xxxviii-xlii.  6 

xxxviii.  7 

xl.  7-14 

xiii.  7-17 


JOB 
123,  133,  147,  164-186, 

344-345 

344,  165-166,  181-186 

344,  165-166 
171 

345,  167,  168-169 

169-172 

170 

345.  168 

172-174,  345  note  1 

174-176 

345,  168 

345  note  2 

345 

345,  166,  168 

176 

345,  176-180 
182 

177 
181-182,3^5 


362 


INDEX   OF   PASSAGES   OF   SCRIPTURE 


Psalms 


PAGES 

xlviii 

As  a  whole 

347. 

240 

xlix 

i 

347 

ii 

347 

li 

iii 

348 

244 

Hi 

iv 

348 

liii 

V 

348 

liv 

vi 

348 

lv 

vii 

348 

lvi 

viii 

347 

lvii 

ix-x 

348 

lviii 

xi 

347 

lix 

xii 

348 

lx 

xiii 

348 

lxi 

xiv 

348 

lxii 

XV 

347 

197 

lxiii 

xvi 

347 

lxiv 

xvii 

348 

lxv 

xviii 

347.  58,  77 

240 

lxvi 

xix 

347 

lxvii 

xx-xxi 

347 

lxviii 

xxii 

348,  241 

-243 

lxix 

xxiii 

347 

240 

lxx 

xxiv 

347.  223 

-224 

lxxi 

XXV 

347 

Ixxii 

xxvi 

348 

Ixxiii 

xxvii 

348,  247 

-248 

lxxiv 

xxviii 

348 

lxxv 

xxix 

347 

lxxvi 

XXX 

347 

222 

lxxvii 

xxxii 

348 

lxxviii 

xxxiii 

347 

lxxix 

xxxiv 

347 

lxxx 

xxxv 

348 

lxxxi 

xxxvi 

347 

lxxxii 

xxxvii 

347 

lxxxiii 

xxxviii 

348 

Ixxxiv 

xxxix 

348 

ixxxv 

xl 

347 

1  xxxvi 

xli 

348 

lxxxvii 

xlii-xliii 

348 

lxxxviii 

xliv 

348 

Ixxxix 

xlv 

347 

xc-xci 

xlvi 

347 

xcii 

xlvii 

347 

xciii 

PAGES 

347 

347 
348.  246 
348,  241 
347 
348 
348 
348 
348 
348,  243 
347 
347 
347 
348 
347 
348 
348 
347 
347 
347 
347 
348 
348 
348 
347 
347 
348 
347 
347 
348 

347,  229-230 

348 

348,  238 

347 

348,  182-183 

347 
347,  237-238 

348 
347 
347 
347 
348 
347 
347 
347 


INDEX    OF   PASSAGES   OF   SCRIPTURE 


363 


PAGES 

PAGES 

xciv 

347 

vi.  1-5 

342 

xcv-c 

347 

6-11 

342 

ci 

347.  225 

12-19 

342 

cii 

348 

20-35 

342 

ciii-civ 

347 

vii-viii 

342, 145-146 

cv 

347.  229 

ix 

342 

cvi 

347.  230 

x-xxii.  16 

342,  137 

cvii 

347. 

127- 

-128,  231 

xxi.  6 

139 

cviii 

347 

xxii.  17-xxiv 

342.  137 

cix 

348 

xxiii.  19-21 

134 

ex 

347 

29-35 

342 

cxi-exviii 

347 

xxiv.  19-20 

141 

cxviii 

226-228 

30-34 

342,  134-135 

cxix 

347 

xxv-xxix 

342.  137 

exx-exxxiv 

347- 

232- 

-237,  240 

xxx-xxxi 

342.  137 

exxxii 

347 

224- 

-225 

236-237 

xxx.  1-4 

342 

exxxv 

347 

7-9 

342 

exxxvi 

347.  228 

11-14 

342 

exxxvii 

348 

15-16 

342 

exxxviii 

347 

18-19 

342,  138 

exxxix 

348 

244-246 

21-23 

342 

cxl 

348 

24-28 

342 

cxli 

348 

29-31 

342 

cxlii 

347 

xxxi.  10-31 

342 

cxliii 

348 

cxliv 

348 

ECCLESIi 

cxlv-cl 

347 

As  a  whole 

132, 

146-155,  155, 

Proverbs 

164, 

194. 344 

As  a  whole 

132. 

136- 

146, 

146-147, 

i.  2-1 1 

344,  149 

198, 

342 

12 

147-148 

i-ix 

342, 137 

i.  12-ii 

344.  149-15 1 

i.  10-19 

342 

iii.  i-iv.  8 

344-  151-152 

20-23 

342 

iv.  9-v.  9 

344 

ii 

342 

v.  10-vi.  12 

344-  152 

iii.  1-10 

342 

vii.  1-22 

344 

11-20 

342 

2 

197 

19-20 

143 

vii.  23-ix.  16 

344. 152 

21-26 

342 

ix.  17-xi.  6 

344 

27-35 

342 

xi.  7-xii.  7 

344.  152-153 

iv.  1-9 

342 

xii.  8-14 

344.  153 

10-19 

342 

18-19 

143 

The  Song 

OF 

Songs 

20-27 

342 

V 

342 

As  a  whole 

123 

248-257,  348 

364 


INDEX   OF    PASSAGES   OF   SCRIPTURE 


As  a  whole 

i-vi 

vii-x.  4 
viii.  9-ix.  7 
x.  5-xii 
xiii-xxvii 
xiii-xiv.  23 
xiv.  24-27 

28-32 
xv-xvi 
xvii.  i-ii 

12-14 
xviii 
xix 
xx 

xxi-xxii.  14 
xxiii 

xxiv-xxvii 
xxviii-xxxv 
xxx  iii 

xxxvi-xxxix 
xl-lxvi      22, 
xl.  I-II 
xl.  12-xlviii 
xlix-1 
li-lii.  12 
Iii.  13-liii 
liv-lv 
lv 

lvi-lxii 
Ixi.  1-3 
lxiii-lxvi 


Isaiah 

TAGES 
II,    I23,   I24,   285-289, 
306-307, 349-350 

349, 286-287 

349,  287-288 

349 

350,  288,  349 
350,  288-289 

348,  264 

348 

348 

348 

348 

349 

349 

348,  265 

349 

349.  265-6 

348 

349 

35o.  289 

349 

35°.  285.  35o 

82,  87-88,  274-284,  349 

349  note,  274-276 

349  note,  83-86,  276-277 

349  note,  86,  277-278 

349  note,  278-279 

349  note,  279 

349  note,  279-280 

86-87 

349  note,  280-282 

92 
349  note,  282-284 


Jeremiah 

As  a  whole  289-293,  349,  350 

i-vi  291,  350 

ii-vi  349,  291 

vii-x  350 

xi-xiii  350,  291 

xiv-xvii  350 

xiv-xv  349,  291 

xviii-xx  350,  291-292 


PAGES 

xviii.  4 

292 

xxi-xxiii 

350 

xxiv-xxix 

350 

xxx-xxxi 

350 

xxxii-xlv 

350 

xlvi-lii 

35° 

xlvi.  3-12 

348 

14-28 

348 

xlvii 

348 

xlviii 

348 

xlix.  1-6 

349 

7-22 

349 

23-27 

348 

28-39 

349 

1-li 

348 

265 

Lamentations 

As  a  whole 

348, 

238 

-239 

EZEKIEL 

As  a  whole     261,  293-301,  349,  350 

j-xi  350 

i-iii  293-294 

ii.  8— iii.  3  301 

iv-v  296-297 

viii-xi  314 

xii-xiv  350 

xii.  17-20  295-296 

xv-xix  350 

xx.  1-44  350,  299 

xx.  45-xxiv  350 

xxi  297-298 

xxv-xxxii  350 

xxv.  1-7  349 

8-1 1  348 

.  I2-!4  349 

15-17  348 

xxvi-xxviii  348 

xxvii  299 

xxix-xxxii  348,  265 

xxxiii-xlviii  350 

xxxiii.  30  300 


IXDEX    OF    PASSAGES   OF    SCRIPTURE 


365 


Dan  ii  i 

H.\< 

SGAl 

PAGES 

PAGES 

As  a  whole 

70,  301,349 

As  a  whole 

307.  308,  349 

ii 

338.  7o 
338.7i 

/ 1 1  11 

\KI.\ll 

iii 

338,  71-72,  185 

As  a  whole 

307-3IO 

iv 

338.  72 

i— vi  i  i 

308-310,  349 

V 

338, 73 

i.  7-vi 

I23,  308-310, 313 

vi 

338.  73-74 

ix-xi.  3 

3IO,  307-308,  349 

HOSEA 

xi.  4-17 

xii-xiv 

3IO,  307-308,  349 
3IO,  307-308,  349 

As  a  whole 

i-iii 

ix.  7-x 

301-303,  349 
302 
301 

As  a  whole 

Malachi 
310-31 1,  307-308,  349 

xi-xiv.  8 

302-303,  349 

Wisdom  of  Solomon 

Joel 

As  a  whole 

I32-I33,   I47l  155, 

As  a  whole 

123,  270-273,  315,  349 

i.  i-ii 

155-164,  199,  344 

344.  155-150 

As  a  whole 

Amos 

303-304 

i.  12-vi.  11 
vi.  12-ix 
viii.  1 

344.  156-159 

344,  159-161 

132 

i.  1-2 

303 

x-xi.  5 

344.  161 

i.  3-ix 

349.  304 

xi.  5-xix 

344,  161-164 

Obadiah 
As  a  whole  349,  264 

Jonah 
As  a  whole  261,  304-306,  349 

MlCAH 

As  a  whole  306-307,  349 

i.  2-v  349,  307 

vi.  1-8  307,  349 

vi.  9-vii  7-8,  307,  349 

Nahum 
As  a  whole  261-264,  348 

Habakkuk 

As  a  whole  267-270,  349 

Zephaniah 

As  a  whole  273-274,  349 


ECCLESIASTJCUS 
As  a  whole     132,  136-146,  146-147, 


187-190, 

J94. 199.  342~ 

344 

i-xxiii 

342 

i.  1-20 

343-  144 

ii.  7-18 

343 

iii.  1-16 

343 

17-28 

343 

iv.  1- 10 

343 

11-19 

343 

20-28 

343 

vi.  5-17 

343.  136 

18-37 

343 

vii.  19-36 

343 

viii-ix.  16 

343 

ix.  1 7-x.  5 

343 

x.  6-xi.  6 

343 

xi.  11-28 

343. 188 

25-28 

141 

xi.  29-xiii. 

24 

343 

366 


INDEX   OF   PASSAGES   OF   SCRIPTURE 


PAGES 

xiv.  3-19  343 

xiv.  20-xv.  10  343 

xv.  11-20  343 

xvi.  1-23  343 

xvi.  24-xviii.  14  343 

xix.  4-17  343 

xix.  20-xx.  13  343 
xxii.  11-12                              343,  139 

xxii.  27-xxiii.  6  343 

xxiii.  7-15  343 

xxiv-xxxiii.  15  342 

xxiv  189 

xxvi.  7-18  343 

29  135 

xxvii.  25-xxviii.  11  343 

xxviii.  12-26  343 

xxix.  1-20  343 

21-28  343 

xxx.  1-13  343 

14-25  343 

xxxi.  1-11  343 

xxxi.  12-xxxii.  13  343 

xxxiii.  16-xxxix.  11  343 

xxxiv.  1-8  343 

13-17  343 

xxxiv.  18-xxxv  343 

xxxvi.  21-26  343 

xxxvii.  7-26  343 

xxxvii.  27-xxxviii.  15  343 

xxxviii.  16-23  343 
xxxviii.  24-xxxix.  11              343,  190 

xxxix.  12-xlii.  14  343 

ad.  1-10  343 

11-27  343 

xli.  1-4  343 

xlii.  15-L  24  343 

xlii.  15-xliii  344 

xliv-1.  24  344 

1.  25-29  343 

li  343 

St.  Matthew 
As  a  whole  194-209,  346 

i-ii  346 

iii-iv.  16  346 


iii.  12 

200 

iv.  17-vii.  27 

346, 195-198,  200 

v.  3-12 

196-198 

13-16 

198 

17 

198 

vi.  9-13 

8 

vii.  24-27 

198 

vii.  28-ix.  34 

346,  202 

ix.  35-xi.  1 

346,  202-203 

xi.  2-xii 

346,  203-204 

xiii.  1-52 

346,  204-205 

xiii.  53-xvi.  ] 

[2 

346,  205-206 

xvi.  13-xx 

346,  206-207 

xxi-xxiii 

346,  207-208 

xxiv-xxv 

346,  208 

xxvi-xxviii 

346,  208-209 

St. 

Mark 

As  a  whole 

9i 

St. 

Luke 

As  a  whole 

91-96,  341 

i-iv.  13 

92,  34i 

iv.  14-ix.  50 

92-94,  341 

ix.  51-xix.  28 

94-95.  34i 

xix.  29-xxiv 

95-96,  341 

xxiv.  46-48 

96 

St. 

John 

As  a  whole 

209-218,  346 

i.  1-18 

346,  215-218 

i.  19-iv 

346 

v-xii 

346 

viii.  30-59 

211-212 

xiii-xvii 

346 

xviii-xx 

346 

xviii.  28-xix. 

16 

213-215 

xx.  30-31 

218 

xxi 

346 

Acts 

As  a  whole 

90-c 

H.  96-97.  "7~ 

118, 

34i 

i-xii 

34i 

INDEX   OF   PASSAGES  OF  SCRIPTURE 

Titus 


i.  8 

ii-xii 

ii-v 

vi-ix.  31 

ix.  32-xii 

xiii-xviii.  11 

xiii-xiv 

xv.  1-35 

xv.  36-xviii.  II 

xviii.  12-xix.  20 

xix.  21-xxviii 


PAGES 

97 

98-101 

98-99 

99 

99-101 

341,  101-104 

101 

102 

102-104 

341,  104- 1 10 

341,  110-113 


Romans 
As  a  whole  111-112,  341 

I  Corinthians 
As  a  whole  107-109,  341 

II  Corinthians 
As  a  whole  109-110,  341 

Galatians 
As  a  whole  106-107,  341 


Ephesians 


As  a  whole 
ii.  10 


113.  34i 
122 


Philippians 
As  a  whole  114,  341 

COLOSSIANS 

As  a  whole  113-114,  341 

I  and  II  Thessalontans 
As  a  whole  105-106,  341 

I  Timothy 


As  a  whole 


Philemon 


As  a  whole 


367 


PACES 
114.  341 


114, 34I 


Hebrews 
As  a  whole  11 1  note,  341 

James 

345,  187-193,  198 
345,  190-193 


As  a  whole 
i.  12-27 

'•25 
ii.  1-13 

12 

14-26 
iii.  1-12 

13-18 
iv.  1-10 
iv.  13-v.  18 


189 

345.  190 
189 

345 

345 

345.  190 

345 

345, 188-189 


I  and  II  Peter 
As  a  whole  115-117,  341 

I  John 
As  a  whole  345 


II  and  III  John 
As  a  whole 


34i 


JUDE 
As  a  whole  115-117,341 

Revelation 

312-326,  350 


As  a  whole 
iii.  16 


II  Timothy 


As  a  whole 
ii.  11 


As  a  whole 
i-iii 
iv-v 

vi-viii.  4 
viii.  5-xi.  18 
xi.  19-xv.  4 
xv.  5-xix.  4 
xix.  5-xx 
xix.  10 
114,  341    xxi-xxii.  5 
115    xxii.  6-21 


114.  34i 
IK 


35°. 317 
35°.  315,  318-319 
350,  315,  319-321 
35°.  3*5,  321-322 
35°.  315,  323-324 
35o,  315.  324-325 
350,  315,  325 

3I5-3i6 

35°.  315,  325-325 
35°.  326 


GENERAL    INDEX 


Acrostic :  239. 

Acts  of  Apostles,  as  division  of 
sacred    history:    90-91,    96-118, 

34i. 
Acts  (or  Visions),  as  divisions  of 

drama  :  267,  270,  280. 
Adversary  (in  Job)  :  182. 
Alternating1    Monologue:    302- 

3°3- 

Anthems  :  220-248,  347  —  dra- 
matic :  348,  247-248. 

Antiphonal :  see  under  Struc- 
ture. 

Arch  form  :  see  under  Structure. 

Ascents,  Songs  of:  347,  232-238. 

Asyndetic  sentences :  8. 

Authorship  of  Ecclesiastes  :  147- 
148. 

Ballad :  3. 

Beatitudes,  The:  196-198. 

Bible  :  as  a  badly-printed  book, 
9-10 — Bible  reading  :  Appendix 
I  —  Progressive  study  in  :  Appen- 
dix II. 

Bible,  Modern  Reader 's  :  10,  329- 
33o. 

Chapter  and  verse  divisions :  9- 
10. 

Chorus  :  of  Bridesmaids,  249,  253 
—  Celestial,  278  —  Men  and 
Women,  3-5,  220-221  —  Nations, 
279  —  Ritual,  226-228  —  Watch- 
men, 273,  282. 

Chronicles  as  a  form  of  history  : 
ax,  75-82,  339-340- 


Church  and  World  in  Matthew  : 
200-209. 

Church,  New  Testament,  History 
of:  22,  89-118,  341. 

Classical  as  a  technical  term  of 
literature :  316. 

Commandments,  ten :  34. 

Commentary,  Age  of:  10. 

Covenant:  the  word,  23  —  with 
Adam,  23-24 — Noah,  24-25  — 
Abraham  and  Israel,  23-25  — 
under  the  Exodus,  33-35  —  of 
Holiness,  34  —  in  Deuteronomy, 
12,  41  —  under  Ezra  and  Ne- 
hemiah,  81-82. 

Criticism  as  a  form  of  Bible 
study:  2  —  compare  1-12,  329. 

Dance  as  a  source  of  lyric  poetry  : 

219-220 — compare  220-231. 
Darkness,  Plague  of,  in  Wisdom  : 

162-163. 
Dialectic,   a  feature  of  style   in 

wisdom  literature:  210-215  —  m 

prophecy:  310-311. 
Digression,  a  feature  of  style  in 

Wisdom  :  158,  159-160,  163-164. 
Dirge  (or  wail)  :  238. 
Discourse  :  in  wisdom  literature, 

i55-l64.  344.  345  —  in  prophecy, 

259  — rhapsodic,  273-274,  349. 
Disputation  (in  John)  :  210-215. 
Division  of  speeches  in  Job  :  345 
—  of   prophetic     books:    307-308, 

349-35o- 
Documents,  an  element  of  Bible 
history  :   19  (compare  lists,  333- 


309 


370 


GENERAL   INDEX 


340)  — structural  printing  of,  35- 

37-    ■ 

Doom  form  :  274,  note  1  (com- 
pare 273-274,  274-276,  310)  — 
Doom  prophecies :  261-266, 
288-289,  292,  298  (compare  list, 
348-349). 

Drama  as  a  division  of  poetry : 
219. 

Dramatic  form  and  interpreta- 
tion :  6-8  —  Dramatic  Lyrics: 
243-248,  348. 

Echoing-,  an  effect  in  classical 
literature  :  316  (compare  317- 
326). 

Eirenicon:  102. 

Elegies:  238-239,  347~348- 

Emblem  prophecies :  292,  295- 
299,  302,  307,  310  —  Vision  em- 
blems, 309,  313. 

Envelope  figure :  8-9. 

Enveloping  vision :  309. 

Epic,  as  a  division  of  poetry:  219 

—  in  biblical  and  other  literature  : 
18  —  Epic  prophecy  :     304-306, 

56-57- 
Epigram  as  a  form   of  wisdom 

literature :  133-134. 

Epilogue :  to  Ecclesiastes,  147, 
153  —  Job,  164-165,  181-182  — 
Old  Testament  history,  22,  82- 
88,340 — Revelation,  326,  350  — 
Zechariah's  Vision,  310. 

Epistles :  place  in  New  Testa- 
ment history,  90-91,  96-97,  104- 
118  (compare  list,  341) — Episto- 
lary manifesto,  113-114,   115-116 

—  Missionary    Epistles,    104-118 

—  Epistolary     Treatise,      in  — 
Wisdom  Epistles,  187-193,  342, 

345- 
Essay  as  a  form  of  wisdom  litera- 
ture :    135-136  (compare  lists  in 
Appendix,  343~345)  —Essays  of 
Ecclesiastes,  149-155  —  of  Eccle- 


siasticus    and    St.   yames,    188- 

193- 
Europe,   evangelisation   of:    103, 

341. 

Exile,  The,  as  a  division  of  sacred 

history  :  21,  70-75,  338. 
Exodus,  The,    as    a   division    of 

sacred   history:  21,   30-40,   334- 

335- 

Fable,  of  Jotham  :  51. 

Fan,  winnowing,  a  fundamental 
conception  in  Matthew :  200 
(compare  200-209). 

Festal,  Hymns  :  347. 

Folk  song  of  Sword  :  298. 

Fool  in  wisdom  literature:  139. 

Form  as  distinguishing  literary 
study  :  2  (compare  1-12)  —  essen- 
tial connection  with  interpreta- 
tion :  6-10  —  literary  forms  in 
wisdom  literature  :  133-136,  146- 
147. 

Genesis  as  a  division  of  sacred 
history  :  21,  25-30,  333-334. 

Gentiles,  evangelisation  of:  100- 
101,341. 

Gods  as  viceroys  of  God  :  182-183. 

Gomer,  prophecy  of :  302. 

Greek  influence  on  biblical  wis- 
dom :  209  (compare  209-215). 

History  :  distinguished  from  story 
in  biblical  literature,  15-18  — 
sacred  narrative  as  history  and  as 
literature,  19-22  —  constitutional 
history,  21,  30-31,  33-38  —eccle- 
siastical history,  21,75-82  —  phil- 
osophical history,  21  —  wisdom 
history,  198-199  (compare  199- 
209). 

History  of  the  New  Testament 
Church  as  presented  by  itself: 
22,  89-118,  341. 


GENERAL    l.\M  A 


371 


History  of  the  People  of  Israel  as 
presented  by  themselves  :  20-22, 
23-88,  333-340. 

Holiness,  Covenant  of:  34. 

Horeb,  message  of  a  key  to  the 
history  of  kings  :  63-68. 

Humanists :  131. 

Humours  in  wisdom   literature: 

*37- 
Hymnology,  Christian,  in  New- 
Testament  epistles :  115. 

Idyl  as  a  literary  term :  248  — 
lyric  idyl  of  Solomon's  Song;  248- 
257-  348  —  story  idyl  of  Ruth,  248, 

53.  337- 

Imagery :  distinguished  from 
symbolism,  256-257  —  concealed, 
271  —  sustained,  298-299. 

Immanuel,  sign  of:  287-288. 

Immortality,  idea  of,  in  wisdom 
literature  :  154-155, 156-159.  169- 
172. 

Interruptions  in  the  dialogue  of 
Job:  I73-I74.  345  note  1— par- 
enthetic (in  prophecy),  304 
note. 

Intervention,  Divine,  in  Job : 
176-181,  345. 

Israel  as  a  personage  in  Zion 
Redeemed :  278. 

Jerusalem,  Inauguration  of: 
221-225. 

Jesus  :  as  a  great  master  in  litera- 
ture, 194-195  —  life  of,  a  division 
of  sacred  history,  91-96,  341  — 
wisdom  of  Jesus,  195. 

Jesus,  son  of  Sirach  :   137. 

Journey :  Missionary,  101-104 
—  of  Jeremiah,  291,  350  —  of 
Paul,  102-103. 

Judges,  The,  as  a  division  of 
sacred   history:    21,   45-56,  336- 

337- 
Judgment,   use  of  the  word  in 


Old  Testament:    141,  153,  282  — 
compare,  188. 

Kingdom  of  heaven,  a  root  idea 

in  Matthew  :  198-209. 
Kings   and  Prophets,   The,   as  a 

division   of  sacred   history  :   21, 

56-69,  337-338. 

Lamentations :  238-239. 

Law:  in  relation  to  wisdom,  189 
—  Laws  and  Oblations  in  The 
Exodus,  37-38  —  Law  of  the 
Ten  Commandments,  34 —  Book 
of  the  Law  discovered,  69. 

Lectionary,  Revised  :  10. 

Litanies  and  Prayers :  348. 

Literary  study  of  Scripture  dis- 
tinguished from  theology  and 
criticism:   1-12. 

Liturgies :  347. 

Logos  (in  John)  :  215-216. 

Lord's  Prayer :  8-9. 

Lyric  Poetry  of  Bible :  219  and 
Chapter  VII  (compare  Appen- 
dix, 347-348). 

Lyrics,  Interrupting,  in  prophecy  : 
274 note  1  (compare  Doom  form). 

Manifesto:  Epistolary,  113-114, 
115-117  —  prophetic,  291,  299, 
308. 

Maxim  as  a  form  of  wisdom  litera- 
ture :  135,  195-198,  216-217. 

Meditations,  Lyric  :  see  under 
Song. 

Ministry,  Prophetic :  349. 

Miscellanies,  of  wisdom  litera- 
ture: 131-132  (compare  133- 
136),  136,  146-147.  342-345. 
355  —  of     prophecy:      285-311, 

349-350.  355- 
Missionary   Journeys:    101-104, 
201,  202-203,  291,341,  350 — Epis- 
tles: 104-105  (compare  105-118), 
341- 


372 


GENERAL    [NDEX 


Monologue  :  as  a  form  of  lyric 
poetry,  239-248,  348 — Alternat- 
ing monologue    in    Hosea,   302- 

303  —  Divine  monologue  in  doom 
prophecy,  273-274,  274  (note  1), 
310. 

Movement,  poetic,  forms  of  :  see 

Structure. 
Mystery,    use    of   the  word    in 

Scripture :   205. 

Narrative,  Scripture,  as  history 
and  as  literature  :   19-22. 

National  anthems :  228-231. 

Number  sonnets :  138  (compare 
list,  342). 

Oblations    and    Laws    in    The 

Exodus :  37-38,  335. 
Occasional  poetry :  347. 
Ode  as  a  form  of  lyric  poetry  :  220- 

221  (compare  3-5),  347. 
Oracle :  303. 
Ordinances    in    The    Exodus: 

37-38. 

Palestine,  evangelisation  of:  98- 

99.  34i- 
Parables  of  Jesus:    93-95,  194- 

195,204-205  —  of  Jotham  :  51. 
Parenthetic     interruptions     (in 

prophecy)  :  304  note  —  prefaces  : 

304  note. 

Pendulum  movement:  see 
Structure. 

Philippics,  prophetic :  261. 

Pilgrim's  Hymn-book,  The  :  232- 
237  (compare  237-238). 

Poetry  distinguished  from  prose  : 
121-122,  313  —  in  biblical  litera- 
ture, 123-129. 

Postlude  :  269,  270. 

Prayers  and  Litanies  in  the 
psalter:  348. 

Prefaces,  parenthetic  :  304  note. 

Preludes:  269,  274-276. 


Printing  of  the  Bible:  see  under 
Structure. 

Processionary  ode :  220-221. 

Progressive  Study  in  biblical 
literature  :  351-357. 

Prologue :  to  Ecclesiastes,  147, 
149,  153  —  to  Job,  164-165,  181- 
186  —  to  Old  Testament  history, 
23-25,  333  —  to  St.  John's  Gospel, 
215-218  —  to  Revelation,  317,  350 

—  to  Zechariah's  Vision,  309. 
Prophecy   as    an    institution   of 

Israel:  21,53-54,  56-62,312-313 

—  prophets  as  poets  :  260,  123- 
124. 

Prophecy  as  a  branch  of  litera- 
ture:  general  conception,  258- 
260  —  special  forms  of  prophetic 
literature:  260-284 — OH  Testa- 
ment prophecy:  285-311 — New- 
Testament  prophecy  :  312-326. 

Prophecy,  various  forms  of:  the 
Call,  285,  287,  291,  293-294,  300- 
'301  —  Dialectic,  310-311  —  Dis- 
course, 259-260  —  Dramatic  dia- 
logue, 7,  307  —  Doom,  261-266, 
273-274,  276,  288-289,  292, 
298-299,  299,  310  —  Emblem, 
295-299,  302  —  Epic  (or  Ston  ) , 
56-57,  304-306 — Manifesto, 
291,  299,  308  —  Oracle,  303  — 
Response,    308.  (compare    294) 

—  Revelation,  312-326 — Rhap- 
sody and  Rhapsodic  Discourse, 
267-281  —  Sentences,     259,    301 

—  Story  (or  Epic),  56-57,  304- 
306  —  Vision,  308-310    (also  see 

I 'is ion). 

Prose  and  Verse  in  biblical  lit- 
erature: 10,  121-122,  123,  124- 
125. 

Prosperity  of  the  wicked,  in 
wisdom  literature:   140-141,152, 

i56"I59.  172-176. 
Proverb  as   a  form  of    wisdom 

literature  :   133,  194. 


GENERAL    INDEX 


373 


Redeemer,  The,  in  Zum  Re- 
deemed :  281-282. 

Refrains:  127,  250-251,  252. 

Return,  The,  as  a  division  of 
sacred  history:    21,  78-82,   339- 

340. 
Rhapsody,     Rhapsodic     Dis- 
course,  as    forms    of    prophetic 
literature  :  267-284  (compare  list 

349)- 

Ritual  anthems :  225-228  (com- 
pare 221-225),  347- 

Rome,  St.  Paul  and:  110-117, 
341. 

Satan,  in  Job  and  elsewhere  :  182- 

184. 
Satires,  prophetic :  261. 
Scene,  change  of,  in  Job  :  176. 
Scepticism  in  Ecclesiastes  :   154. 
Sentences,  prophetic:  259,301. 
Sermon  on  the  Mount :   195-198. 
Servant    of    Jehovah     (in    the 

Isaiahan  rhapsody)  :  277-280. 
Sevenfold  :  see  under  Structure. 
Signs,  as  used  by  St.  John :  217 

—  Prophetic,  287. 
Sluggard  in  wisdom   literature : 

139. 

Social  evolution  in  Job  :  175-176. 

Song,  or  Meditation,  as  a  form  of 
lyric  poetry  :  220,  231-238.  (See 
list  of  songs,  347.) 

Sonnet  as  a  form  of  wisdom  litera- 
ture :  I34-;I35,  153.  (See  lists  of 
sonnets,  342,  343.) — Number 
Sonnets,  138,  342. 

Speakers  in  biblical  monodies : 
240-243. 

Stanzas :  126. 

Story:  distinguished  from  history, 
15  —  relations  of  the  two  in  bib- 
lical literature,  15-19 — Story  (or 
Epic)  Prophecy,  304-306,  349 
(compare  56-57) — Stories  of 
Abimelech,     51-52  —  Abraham, 


25-27,  28,  29  —  Absalom,  59  — 
Achan,  46  —  Balaam,  38-40  — 
Benjamite  war,  52  —  Burial  of 
Sarah,  29-30  —  Daniel,  70-74, 
301  —  David  and  Bath-sheba,s8- 
59 —  David  and  Saul,  54-56  — 
Deborah  and  Barak,  48-49 —  Eli- 
jah, 62-64, 65  —  Elisha,  64,  65-67 
—  Esther,  74-75  —  Exiles  in  Baby- 
lon, 70-74 — Feud  of  David's 
Children,  59  —  Gibeonites,  46  — 
Gideon, 49-50 — llagar,  26-27  — 
Isaac,  27-28  —  Jael  and  Sisera, 
48-49 —  lehu,  67-68  —  Jephthah, 
50  —  Jonah,  304-306  —  Jonathan, 
54  —  Joseph,  15-19,  30  —  Joshua, 
46-47 — Jotham,  51-52 —  Lot,  25- 
26 — Micah,  52  —  Micaiah,  65  — 
Nehemiah,  80-81  —  Old  Prophet 
of  Beth-el,  60-62 — Plagues  of 
Egypt,  31-33  —  Rahab,  46 —  Re- 
bekah,  28-29  —  Ruth,  53 — Sam- 
son, 50-51  —  Samuel,  53  —  Saul 
and  David,  54-56  —  Shadrach, 
etc.,  71-72  —  Others  in  Appendix, 

333-338- 
Strange  Woman,  as  a  conception 
of  wisdom    literature:    145-146, 

156. 
Structure,  literary:  close  con- 
nection with  interpretation,  6-10 
(compare  147-148.  314-315)^ 
expressed  in  printing,  9-10,  19, 
35-37,  128-129.  Structure  of 
Ecclesiastes,  146-148  —  of  Ezra 
and  Nehemiah,  79-82.  Types  of 
structure:  antiphonal,  3-5,  220- 
221,  226-228  —  the  arch  form, 
272-273  (compare  265,  279,  288- 

289,  314-31$!  323.  324.  326)  — 
pendulum  movement,  128-129, 
230,  261,  277,  283  —  sevenfold, 
249-256,    265,    270-273,    274-284, 

299.  304.  3I4-3I5-  3X9.  326- 
Study,     Progressive,    in    biblical 
literature:  Appendix  II, 


374 


GENERAL   INDEX 


Suffering,  Mystery  of,  in  Job:  184 
(compare  164-186). 

Taunt  songs  :  263,  269,  277. 

Temple  service,  anthems  of:  220, 
221,  225-228. 

Testament,  Old  and  New:  23. 

Texts  in  the  Bible:   10. 

Themes,  Songs  on  :  347. 

Theological  study  of  Bible  dis- 
tinguished from  literary  and  criti- 
cal :  1-12. 

Vanity  as  a  conception  of  wisdom 
literature  :   132,  149-155,  160. 

Verse  distinguished  from  prose : 
121,  124-125  —  verse  and  prose 
in  the  Bible  :  125-129. 

Verses  (and  chapters)  in  current 
versions  of  the  Bible :  9-10. 

Version :  King  James's,  10,  330 
—  Revised,  10,  330. 

Viceroys  of  God :  182. 

Vision  :  as  a  form  of  lyric  poetry 
246,  348  —  as  a  term  for  prophecy 
in  general,  285  —  as  a  form  of 
prophecy,  260  (compare  262,265- 
266,  269-270,  271,  282-283,  287, 
289,  293-294,  300,  301,  308-310, 
313-326)  —  as    a    term    for    the 


divisions  (or  'acts')  of  a  dra- 
matic prophecy,  267,  270,  274- 
284,  349  note  1  —  Vision  emblems, 
3°9.  3  r3  —  Enveloping  vision,  309. 

Voices:  in  Job,  176 — in  pro- 
phetic rhapsodies,  267  (compare 
265-266,  274-276). 

Votive  hymns  and  anthems  :  347. 

Wail  (or  Dirge)  :  238. 

War,  Hymns  of:  347. 

Watchman,  Prophetic :  265-266 
(compare  269,  278,  282). 

Whirlwind  (in  Job)  :   176-181. 

Winnowing  fan,  a  root  idea  in 
Matthew :  200. 

Wisdom  (or  biblical  Philoso- 
phy) :  130,  342-346,  and  Chap- 
ters V,  VI  —  Old  Testament 
wisdom :  342-345  and  Chapter 
V  —  New  Testament  wisdom, 
345-346  and  Chapter  VI  —  Wis- 
dom of  Jesus  (Christ),  195  — 
Wisdom  of  Jesus  the  son  of 
Sirach,  137. 

Witness,  as  used  in  John  :  218. 

Word,  The,  as  used  in  John  :  215- 
216. 

World  and  Church  in  Matthew : 
200-209. 


The  Literary  Study 
of  the  Bible.   .   .   . 

An  account  of  the  Leading  Forms  of  Literature 
represented  in  the  Sacred  "Writings.  Intended 
for  English  readers. 

By  RICHARD  G.  HOULTON,  Ph.D., 

Professor  of  Literature  in  English  in  the  University  of  Chicago. 

THIS  book  deals  with  the  Bible  as  literature,  without  reference 
to  theological  or  distinctively  religious  matters,  or  to  the  his- 
torical analysis  which  has  come  to  be  known  as  "  the  higher  criti- 
cism." With  a  view  to  the  general  reader  it  endeavors  to  bring  out 
the  literary  interest  of  Scripture,  so  often  obscured  by  reading  in 
verses  or  short  fragments.  For  the  professed  student  of  literature 
it  has  the  further  purpose  of  discussing  methodically  such  literary 
forms  as  epic,  lyric,  dramatic,  etc.,  so  far  as  they  appear  in  one  of 
the  world's  great  literatures.  It  assumes  that  the  English  Bible  is 
a  supreme  classic,  the  thorough  study  of  which  must  form  a  part  of 
all  liberal  education. 

CONTENTS,  Introduction  :  The  Book  of  Job,  and  the  various  kinds  of  lit- 
erary interest  represented  by  it.  Book  I  :  Literary  classification  applied 
to  the  Sacred  Literature.  Book  II :  Lyric  Poetry  of  the  Bible.  Book  III  : 
Biblical  History  and  Epic.  Book  IV :  The  Philosophy  of  the  Bible,  or 
Wisdom  Literature.  Book  V :  Biblical  Literature  of  Prophecy.  Book  VI : 
Biblical  Literature  of  Rhetoric.  Appendices. —  I :  Literary  Index  to  the 
Bible.  II :  Tables  of  Literary  Form.  Ill :  On  the  Structural  Printing  of 
Scripture.     IV  :  Use  of  the  Digression  in  "  Wisdom." 

William  F.  Warren,  President  of  Boston  University  {in  Zion's  Herald): 
The  book  is  everywhere  fresh  and  suggestive.  The  author  has  an  immense  capa- 
city for  making  a  subject  clear  and  lending  to  it  a  fascination  by  his  new  way  of 
presenting  it.  Under  his  teaching,  the  English  Bible  becomes  our  supreme  clas- 
sic.    The  torch  he  kindles  sheds  a  flood  of  light  over  the  whole  book. 

545  pages.    Large  12mo.    Cloth.    $2.00. 


D.   C.  HEATH  &  CO..  Publishers 

BOSTON  NEW    YORK  CHICAGO 


Four  Years  of  Novel  Reading 

By  RICHARD  G.  MOULTON,   Ph.D., 

Professor  of  Literature  in  English  in  the  University  of  Chicago, 

and  author  of  "  The  Literary  Study  of  the  Bible,"  etc. 

An  account  of  an  experiment  to  popularize  the  study  of  fiction.  Professor 
Moulton's  introduction  treats  of  the  "  Dignity  of  Fiction.' '  The  "  Backworth 
Classical  Novel  Reading  Union  "  is  sketched  and  a  tabulated  account  of  four 
years'  work  is  given,  followed  by  representative  essays.  The  book  is  of  interest 
and  value  to  the  general  reader,  the  student  and  teacher. 

Cloth.     Uncut,  ioo  pages.     Retail  price,  50  cents. 

An  Introduction  to  English  Fiction 

By  W.   E.   SIMONDS,   Ph.D. 

Professor  of  English  Literature  in  Knox  College. 

Provides  material  for  a  comparative  study  of  English  fiction  in  its  successive 
epochs,  and  for  an  intelligent  estimate  of  the  characteristics  and  merits  of  our 
btory-tellers  in  the  various  stages  of  their  art. 

A  brief  historical  outline  is  presented  in  six  chapters,  followed  by  twelve 
texts,  illustrative  of  the  different  periods  described. 

Cloth.     240  pages.     Price,  80  cents. 

Briefer  Edition,  omitting  illustrative  texts.     Boards,  30  cents. 

Standard  Educational  Novels 

George  Eliot's  Silas  Mamer.  With  introduction  and  notes  by  George 
A.  Wauchope,  Ph.D.,  Professor  in  South  Carolina  College.  Nine 
full-page  illustrations  by  W.  H.  Lawrence.  Cloth.  288  pages.  Price, 
35  cents. 

Goldsmith's  Vicar  Of  Wakefield.  With  introduction  and  notes  by  Wil- 
liam Henry  Hudson,  Professor  in  Leland  Stanford-Jr.  University.  Seven- 
teen full-page  illustrations  by  C.  E.  Brock.  Cloth.  300  pages.  Price,  50 
cents. 

Scott's  Ivanhoe.  With  introduction,  notes,  and  glossary  by  Porter  L. 
MacClintock,  University  of  Chicago.  Seventeen  full-page  illustrations 
by  C.  E.  Brock.      Cloth.      556  pages.      Price,  50  cents. 

Dickens'  A  Tale  Of  TWO  Cities.  With  introduction  and  notes  by  Ham- 
ilton  D.    Moore,  Indiana  University.      In  preparation. 

Cooper's  Last  Of  the  Mohicans.  Edited  with  aids  to  appreciation,  by 
John  G.  Wight,  Ph.D.,  Principal  Girls'  High  School,  New  York  City. 
With  maps  and  illustrations.      Cloth.      659  pages.      Price,  50  cents. 

D.    C.    HEATH    &    CO.,    Publishers 

BOSTON  NEWYORK  CHICAGO 


Date  Due 


